According to season
by Salviar
Summary: Vampires are creatures of the night. Stalking and preying on unsuspecting victims to satisfy their thirst for blood. But they're only make believe, right? Sasunaru vampfic
1. Prologue

A/N: I do not own Naruto, 'cause if I did then I'm PRETTY sure that Sasuke would just come out and admit that he likes guys (I'm kidding, of coarse…he would never admit it. Not with his attitude  )

According to season-

PROLOGUE

The sun was no longer lingering in the sky, nor was it completely under the surface of the earth. Over the horizon, fragments of light began to tickle the clouds, as they do at 4 o'clock in the morning. Over the hills, through the streets and in the homes that populated the composed city of Konoha, all was quiet. It was peaceful and silent in the beautiful, sleeping city. With only the rustle of the stunningly green bushes and calmingly peach colored sakura trees.

On the far east side of the town, a cream colored building stood slightly higher than the rest that surrounded it. Mimicking its neighbors, the mansion was dim and dark inside with the presence of carefully sleeping bodies within its walls.

Only this house held with it an uneasy and unsettling queasiness in its silence. It was the kind of deep and eerie quietude that would be expected from an abandoned warehouse or a large deserted graveyard.

The cold wind blew once more; softly pushing the small charms placed above the brown, mahogany door and brought with it a large quantity of dark clouds floating in from the south. The smell of rain was easily detectable and the fog that attached itself to the heard of clouds above rolled in impatiently.

None of this seemed to faze the silhouette that emerged from the paved road and noiselessly advanced towards the unlocked entranceway. His head was low and his breathing barely audible as he reached for the brass handle and walked inside the pitch-black room. Once inside, the figure gently lifted his head up, looking into the darkness with sharp, squinting eyes and saw the one he had been expecting to greet him.

The character sat indifferently on the third step of the stairway, one leg over the other comfortably. He started directly into the new guest while resting his elbows delicately behind him on the wooden step just behind his disciplined back.

The intruder subtly moved the back of his left hand over his mouth and looked towards one of the well sculpture corners of the residence, avoiding the others eyes at all costs.

Itachi closed his eyes and shook his head solemnly.

"There is no point in trying to hide it. I could smell it when you were at the end of the road," he said emotionlessly, pushing himself of the stairs with ease and grace. He walked over to the younger boy.

"You understand what you have done, right? You know that there is no way of returning back to the way things were, correct?"

There was a small, comfortable silence before a low chuckle could be heard escaping the shorter, dark haired males lips.

"Don't worry, nii-san. I understand completely," Sasuke said calming before removing his hand slowly from his mouth and revealing a pair of perfectly smirking lips, glistening crimson from a red liquid, and two sharp, ivory shaded fangs.


	2. One foot right after the other

A/N: As usual, I do not own Naruto -- because I have many a thing in mind for such ninja's and if I did own them, then I'd probably be the only one watching -' It'd be worth it.

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According to season: Chapter 1 

The crisp autumn air blew the small variety of different fauna and flora that populated the small park in the center of Konoha.

It was a cool day, with fresh subtle breezes pushing and pulling the dry, mahogany leaves from their reaching branches and letting them fall gracefully to the ground.

The gravel path that curved with the trees in the middle of the park was barely visible under the layer of crushed, red and brown, leaves that covered the floor around the roots of the tall, wooden stumps.

The leaves crunched quietly under the patient and unrushed feet of the lone

person walking on the narrow trail. He shifted the small pack that was slung casually over the broad area of his left shoulder and let out an over exaggerated sigh when he looked at his watch for the third time that morning.

He knew he was going to be late if he continued at his current speed.

Running a hand through his golden hair stressfully, he checked his watch once more, hoping that time had somehow jumped back, before pushing himself into a light jog towards his destination.

He halted in front of a large, brick building. His forehead glistened slightly from sweat and his breathing was more rapid than usual as he looked up at the enormous eyesore that was his new daily source of education.

The building was shaped like a "C", he examined. Three story's high with small crossed windows shining in the morning sun. Two tall chestnut doors stood as the only form of entrance into the structure, giving it a welcoming vibe. You could see inside its walls through the clean, clear windows that were plastered through its wood.

The boy wiped his forehead on the end of his white, short-sleeved blouse and, without any more delays, Uzumaki Naruto pushed open the doors of Central Konoha High School.

Once inside, Naruto wasted no effort looking around the empty corridors. Instead, he continued staring blankly at his sneakers, listening to them steadily echo through the long, empty halls. He had memorized the school map the night before, to avoid any confusion on his first day, so he had a basic understanding where the front office was.

Unfortunately the general knowledge of his whereabouts inside the school was dismissed when he found himself facing a wall on the opposite side of the school.

Cursing silently under his breath, Naruto dropped his bag on the ground stubbornly and began searching through its contents for his map in an impatient manner.

He pushed his various folders and books around inside his bag for a minute or two before he suddenly stopped.

A shiver curved itself up his spine and entangled its way up his neck. He felt like a cold breeze had pushed itself through his skin and down into the core of each of his bones. Naruto had the paranoid feeling of being watched but he couldn't obtain the amount of confidence it took to turn around and search.

He was frozen where he stood.

His heartbeat began increasing again, much as it had when he was jogging, as he felt someone standing behind him.

The presence this person held was a cold one and Naruto involuntarily shivered as he felt them close the already short distance between them.

Without so much as a warning, he felt cool, even breathing on the right side of his neck, just above his collarbone. Lips gently touched his skin and he felt the need to run but found he was unable to control his legs. He remained plastered in his spot as the character ran his cold, soft lips up his neck, towards his jaw line, leaving a trail of goose bumps in it's midst's.

Naruto's breathing had become shallow and well audible and this was tormented even more when a deep, serene chuckle emerged from the lips of the anonymous person. Strangely, after hearing the sound rise from the person's throat, he calmed. He felt at ease and no longer felt the need to run or to move away. It was the more mesmerizing sound he had ever heard.

Naruto blinked his deep azure eyes, realizing he had not given his eyes any moisture since he had stopped searching his school bag. The new feeling of calamity came with it a sense of courage, which made it capable for him to turn his eyes to the side slowly to steal a glance of the rather forward intruder.

"Are you…lost?" The being breathed quietly in his ear.

This sudden break of silence frightened Naruto slightly but it finally gave him the nerve to turn around completely to face the person. Sadly adrenalin got priority over his common sense and he forgot about his surroundings, which caused him to take a rather nasty fall over his bag, which he had left just below his feet.

He hit the cold, concrete ground with enough force to make his eyes shut on the impact. When he opened them, only seconds after landing on the floor, the figure was gone, the cold presence had disappeared and his sense of normalcy returned. He turned his head back and forth frantically in search of some form of life around him but he found nothing.

Naruto sighed heavily, deep in thought about the stranger who had managed to traumatize him so. Grabbing his bag and walking forward he finally glanced at his surroundings.

This choice caused his the drop his shoulders in disbelief when he realized he was facing the front office, and had been this whole time.

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A/N: Thank you so much to those who commented before. I _really_ appreciate the comments I got on my prologue. I'm new to this and you guys helped me actually want to get this up! So, claps and huggles for all! (I ruin moods...)

And I apologize for any spelling or grammatical errors that I may have done...It's all in good fun, I'm testing you! PASSES FOR ALL!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm trying to be faster, I really am! But school's a beep. We all know this...except maybe hobos...Give 'em a penny :)


	3. Two peas in a pod

**A/N: I do not own Naruto...-sigh- now I'm sad because I said that... -' I'd like to own it but, sadly, it wouldn't be that popular if I was the one that had created...what with my obsession for all thing sasunaru and all...**

**Anyway: I'd just like to point out that there is, like, one word in japanese in here (in english letters) and that's just because I couldn't resist...I mean, it IS originally Japanese and I LOVE japan so -shrugs- It's not that hard to understand either :)**

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Room number 32, 2nd story, building B. It was unusual. The way Central Konoha High was organized was confusing compared the other academy's in the district. Each class was divided into 30 students, with the occasional 32 or 28 student. The school felt that when a student became accustomed to their teacher they would be more likely to exceed in their studies. This meant that all classes were taught in one room with one teacher throughout the entire year. Naruto was not use to being in one place for an extended period of time, let alone getting 'accustomed' to anyone, so the whole situation left him feeling uncomfortable and tense.

He had been given his timetable, organized identically to the other 30 students that he would be learning with. He was told sternly where his classes were being held before he was waved out of the office that he had spent so long attempting to find.

It was unsettling how quiet the school halls were. High schools were filled with wave after wave of overly excited and uncontrollable adolescence; Naruto expected at least some noise to escape from the classrooms. Instead he was forced to notice the suffocating sound of his footsteps rebound off the corridors pale walls and listen to the echo hit him in the face, shaking his eardrums.

He stopped slowly in front of the gray sliding door with the small bronze numbers of "32" nailed into the middle of it's frame and knocked twice on its surface. Naruto heard a voice behind the door mutter a word of pardon to a silent room and the door in front of him opened unrushed.

A hazel haired man stood in front of him. His were eyes a soft brown and his hair was bound back in a high ponytail. A long scar imprinted itself on his face, starting at one cheek and traveling across the bridge of his noise to the other cheek. Naruto only looked at the mark that had been carved into the man's face for less than a second before he self-consciously began scratching at his own scars lightly. Naruto had three small slits across each of his cheek. They weren't very deep, but they were permanent. The scars were symmetrical but they did not leave Naruto please in the least about having them.

The sensei smiled softly at Naruto.

"How may I help you?"

"Uh-…um…" Naruto stuttered, suddenly nervous, "here" he said finally as he held out a piece of perfectly folded paper. The man took it gently and opened it carefully. Naruto watched his eyes skim back and forth, reading the letter quickly.

"Uzumaki Naruto, is it?" He looked up from reading and glanced down at Naruto kind eyes. Naruto simply nodded, looking down at his feet as he moved from one to the other.

"I'm Umino Iruka, but you can call me Iruka. I don't like it when people call me by my last name, it makes me feel old. So call me Iruka, okay? And I can call you Naruto, right?"

Naruto looked up and quirked one of his eyebrows at the strange introduction. He nodded all the same. Iruka looked inside his classroom briefly and told Naruto to wait outside until he invited him in.

After Iruka closed the door, returning to his classroom, Naruto leant against the wall that was opposite from the door into room 32. Closing his eyes he began pondering on the events that had happened earlier that day. All of it felt like a dream to him; the soft lips on his skin, the cool breath on his skin…He didn't understand how someone so anonymous to him could manage to produce such a strong reaction, how one mysterious persons voice could send shivers through his entire body. If only he could match that deep, soothing voice with a face

_'Are you…lost?'_

He sighed, opening his eyes effortlessly, and moved his hand that had moved itself to his neck, over the lingering touch of the stranger.

The door in front of him opened and he walked towards the entranceway as Iruka motioned for him to approach. He walked inside the room calmly and kept his heart race down by breathing slowly and evenly. When he made it to the middle of the front walkway of the classroom, he turned and faced the class.

A small lump had lodges itself in Naruto's throat as he gazed up at the large number of students in front of him. Sitting up straight at their small, wooden desks, 30 students stared back at him impatiently. Each pair of orbs looked the blonde up and own, judging him and taking in his form to lock it safely in their minds. Naruto looked from one side of the square room to the other at a presentably uncaring pace, which was contrast to the raving thoughts that sped through his brain at an alarming pace. Although usually hyper active and indifferent to others opinions of him, while standing in this new, foreign room with the seemingly emotionless eyes boring into him…reading him… he was stricken with the desire to run. To disappear. To find a deep hole and bury himself, hide himself, from their wandering eyes.

Naruto managed to choke down the lump in his throat and risk a glance over at Iruka. Iruka merely folded his arms over his chest and tilted his head to the side, as if telling him to speak up before the silence had swallowed him whole.

"Ohayo gozaimasu," Naruto managed to mutter, his throat suddenly dry, "My name is Uzumaki Naruto. I'm pleased to meet you all."

The beginning of the lesson past quickly and awkwardly. The classroom was organized in single file with each student having his or her own 50cm by 50cm workspace. The light, beige room fit approximately 30 desks, 6 columns by 5 rows. Every seat was filled except for one. Second from the back in the last column to the right.

Even after sitting down Naruto could feel all the eyes still on him. When he looked around absentmindedly, searching for the eyes that were smothering him, he noticed many people turn in their seats quickly away from him direction. A few looked away and then murmured something to their classmate sitting next to them, whispered but audible enough for only them to hear.

Iruka-sensei began writing on the black board at the front of the classroom and Naruto inwardly thanked this solemn break of silence but still couldn't shake off the feeling of people watching him, which tensed him up further. He tried to ease himself by resting his forehead on his arms that were folded on top of the desk in front of him. This gave him the impression that he was alone, enclosed in his arm cocoon. He closed his eyes slowly and sucked in a deep breath of minor relief.

A loud, high pitched ringing ran through Naruto's ears and he opened eyes with a start but remained in the dark space his arms and desk provided. He heard mumbling and light footsteps moving about the classroom and yawned while trying to keep his eyes open in his dim, secluded space. The blonded concluded, by the way that his ears were adjusting to sound and his eyes feeling heavy, that he had fallen asleep in his attept to calm himself. It didn't come as a surprise to him that he had drifted off but the fact that no one thought it was necessary to wake him seemed strange.

Naruto's ears had now completely come to terms with the sound around him. The only problem was, there wasn't any sound anymore. He heard calm footsteps getting less and less perceptible as they paced away from the room but other than that the room was dead silent. Naruto finally sat up in his seat and looked around the now empty space. Left to right there was no sign of any human presence in the room.

The blonde bit his lip in worry, wondering whether something had happened instead of jumping to the conclusion that there was a break. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly.

That's when he felt a familiar sensation on the side of his neck.

"Is something the matter, _lost boy_?"

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**A/N: HAHAHAH! CLIFFY!! That's because this one SEEMS short but it took SO long to write that I thought it was longer and felt the NEED to put it up so that it could be acknowledged!! But!! This inspires me to write up the next one as soon as possible and, since it finished on a cliffy, it's going to be an AWESOME start to the next chapter, ne? - ouuu I can already TASTE the good times (sasunaru times)!!**

**I hope I make it worth your time everyone! - Critisms (helpful, though, no useless babble...) is always appreciated!! :3**


	4. Three's company

**Disclamer: I do not own Naruto. It was made by Kishimoto -- of whom I praise on a daily basis for drawing so well and giving me the ability to inflict chaos on her series with my shonen-ai fantasies and what-not... -**

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"Is something the matter, lost boy?"

Naruto froze and the left side of his face and neck shivered as the cool, familiar breath wafted itself around his skin. This deep, calm voice…

It was him…

Naruto's lungs began aching and he let out a sharp, realizing that he had stopped breathing momentarily. Mustering up his remaining will power, he tightened his fingers into his palm and turned his entire body sharply around in an attempt to face the source of this intriguing voice. Nothing. He was facing the solid wall that closed the back of the classroom from the one next door. No one was standing in front of it and there was no sign that there ever had been anyone there.

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, confused.

"Did I imagine it?" he muttered inquisitively, "I could have sworn that I heard that voi– " The blonde was cut off when he was pushed forcefully forward into the wall in front of him. He let out an audible exhale as all the air was pushed out of his lungs as he hit the wall. A body pressed against his, giving Naruto the bold impression of this situation being inescapable. Despite this fact, soon after Naruto had returned the needed oxygen to his lungs he started struggling in an effort to move out from between the form and the wall. The pressure on his own body was only strengthened. Arms slowly wound themselves around his own, pushing them against the wall above his head, holding them there.

In his entire seventeen years on this planet, Naruto had never been more perplexed or confused then he was at this very moment. Granted that seventeen years might not seem like much, but it was almost an eternity to Naruto. However, even though this situation brought with it hundreds upon thousands of questions that were racing back and forth in his brain, each there own train of thought, there was one, insignificant question that stood out more than the rest…

"Cold…" the blonde whispered breathlessly, only just realizing that he was more nervous that he had originally thought and that his speech pattern seemed to have drowned, along with his dignity.

Behind him, the body seized all movement. In the middle of an inhale it's chest had halted in mid breath. After what seemed like minutes, Naruto felt a soft pair of lips trace themselves up the left side of his tanned neck and continue to his ear, mimicking what had happened earlier than morning.

"Pardon?" it whispered smoothly into Naruto's ear, making sure to remain in close contact with his face.

"Your skin…it's cold…"

A short silence followed this realization. All that could be heard was Naruto's minor panting and heavy heartbeat. The grip around the blonde's wrists eased off slightly and he felt an icy smile against his neck.

"You are pushed up against a wall, unable to escape the grasp of a complete stranger, and all you seem to notice is that…my skin is cold?"

A ragged chill pushed its way through Naruto's body and activated an adrenaline rush, as if it were preparing him for a sprint from something terrifying. He felt he was in danger, under the impression that he had done something wrong by saying what he had. His body tensed, ready for the impact of whatever may come from the figure…

A chuckle erupted from the stranger's lips, smooth and deep, and Naruto's heart sped up at the very sound of it.

He had not been expecting that to happen.

Naruto gulped to try and remain with a composed expression as the boy behind him kept chuckling quietly for a few more seconds.

The whole situation scared the blonde…it terrified him. The fact that someone so mysterious would press themselves so close to him, that someone so anonymous could produce such a reaction out of his body, pushing it to its limits; it filled him with fear. But when the sound waves from this low, calm laughter released itself from mysterious boys lips it lifted his heart high into his throat and made him feel at ease. This sincere sound was the most beautiful noise he had ever heard.

"Thank you," Naruto was torn from his train of thought when this acknowledgment was said clearly in his ear.

Naruto turned his head towards the figure as far as his neck would allow, trying to see this person's expression.

"F-for what?" the blonde stuttered, confused.

Silence returned for a moment.

"For providing me with some warmth."

Naruto forget, once more, how to breath as this sentence was whispered and he felt light headed fro a second. No one had ever said anything like that to him before or talked to him in such suffocatingly wonderful tone.

"My name," the voice started politely, slowly and carefully running it's hands down Naruto's arms, over his shoulders and smoothly down his slender waist, "is Uchiha Sasuke". The teen let go completely and took a step back from the still motionless blonde.

It took Naruto a moment to realize he was no longer being held against his will. As soon as this realization came into being he turned around swiftly. His eyes widened and he found his mouth slightly agape as he started at the boy and looked him up and down.

The boy known as Uchiha Sasuke bowed solemnly.

"Welcome to Central Konoha High," he looked up with half lidded eyes, "Uzumaki Naruto."

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**A/N:** I'm _soooo sooo_ sorry for taking so long! I had a little mishap where I actually **LOST** the book where I write my drafts for my story!! AHH! It was the worst week ever! So, yes, I apologize greatly for that...

Anyway, the next chapter should be along shortly...I've started it sooo it should be alright.

I sorry that this one's so short. It wasn't intentional, but microsoft word is misleading and makes me think I'm writting many a page when, in fact, I am doing nothing of the sort...-'

Anyway, comments are **ALWAYS** welcome (whether bad or good...only difference is that bad ones will be block..._KIDDING_ I'll just ignore them and hate you, _that's all_ :) :)) So PLEASE tell me what you think!!

Oh! and I can't stress ENOUGH on how **THANKFUL** I am to all of you who have favourited my story so far! You all my endless praise!

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	5. All four one

**A/N: **I do not own Naruto. Because, as I've said numerous times before, if I did then things like this would happen on a daily-- no more like _hourly_ basis..._Enjoy!_

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Naruto was drowning. Drowning in the deep, marron color pools that were Uchiha Sasuke's emotionless eyes. A smirk was plastered across his flawless lips and his pale skin seemed to shine and sparkle like a crystal as the light hit it. Dark chestnut bangs lay themselves evenly across either side of his face, completely symmetrical. The back of his hair was styled into rough, organized spikes, as if someone had run their hands through its soft strands.

As Sasuke stood up, Naruto bit his lip, forcing himself to resist the erge to touch this person's sculpted body. The brown hair teen was taller that the blonde when he stood up straight, but only by an inch or so. His posture was excellent – shoulders back, neck long, back straight – and he gave off a very confident, almost cocky, vibe. Sasuke's uniform – a white, short sleeved blouse, with two buttons undone at the top, a crimson tie that was tied loosely around his neck and went down to his waist and long navy jeans that folded themselves over his black and red sneakers – clung to his body effortlessly. His clothing was finely pressed and ironed, no crinkles in the fabric nor stains on his shirt and, although every other boy in the school would be wearing an identical outfit, Naruto felt that this boy would be the only person in this school who would be able to pull it off with such majesty.

"Why don't you take a picture?" Sasuke said smugly, "It will last longer."

Naruto met the brunettes smirking eyes and turned a deep shade of scarlet. He pouted; trying to think up a comeback or excuse to draw attention away from the fact that he was checking the boy out. Coming up with nothing he merely pushed passed the azure haired boy stubbornly and headed towards the door. By the time Naruto had stomped over to the open sliding door, the Uchiha was already standing in front of it.

"What are you, a magician?" the blonde asked, furrowing his eyebrows. The speed at which the boy seemed to move made Naruto uneasy, since it was at a velocity that was physically impossible for any normal human to reach.

"Come along," Sasuke said coolly, ignoring and dismissing the blonde's question. "I will show you around the school," he finished, turning around swiftly and walking into the empty hallway. Naruto followed, mesmerized by how the dark haired boy seemed to glide across the ceramic titles.

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Shards of sunlight struck a large, pale house that afternoon. As the sun set and hit the horizon, the cream building appeared the glow. The light pushed through the kitchen window at the front of the house and pierced through a gap in the thin fabric that hung behind the tinted glass. Inside the intimidating building, a tall, slender man walked through the doors into the kitchen. He squinted through the blinding light and swiftly pulled together the short, satin curtains.

Pushing his short, dark ponytail off his shoulder gently, he elegantly walked over to the large, white refrigerator that stood in the far right corner of the room. Looking inside the fridge, he scanned through its contents with his murky hazel eyes in a bored fashion. He pulled out a can of drink before closing the fridge door and walking slowly over to the entrance of the kitchen. Now facing the front door of the house, he opened his drink quietly and leant against the open doors sturdy frame.

Taking a sip from his metal cylinder, he counted down from 3.

3…

2…

1…

The man looked slightly to his left and, on queue, the front door of the estate opened with a creak, unhurried. Footsteps were heard as a figure walked through the opening and the door closed behind him with a click.

The new guest began taking off his shoes without a word.

"Welcome home, Sasuke," said the man, smiling emotionlessly, taking another swing of his drink.

"Nn…" was the reply returned. It was merely an acknowledgement.

Sasuke dropped his bag on the floor and walked passed the familiar man, into the kitchen. He turned right and strode through another open door that lead into a shadowy living room. Without turning any of the available dim lights on, Sasuke drifted steadily over to an elegantly crafted, black couch that lay in the center of the room and slumped slowly down onto it's soft, lace cushions.

The older man sauntered in as Sasuke grabbed a remote off the low, glass table that lay in front of him and turned on the wide screened television that was hung up on the wall. The room was swallowed by dancing lights as images crossed the screen and only a small amount of sound erupted from the speakers, as the Uchiha left the volume on minimum.

The pony tailed man leant on the back of the couch; his head resting in one of his hands and the other hand was folded neatly in front of him, still holding his drink. Sasuke kept his eyes on the screen in front of him and chose to ignore the gaze that he was receiving from the adult behind him.

"You're in a good mood today," stated the man.

"No more so than usual, nii-san."

There was a long silence that both found to be disturbingly familiar.

"So, who was it?"

"I do not know to what you refer…"

The man stared at Sasuke. "You don't think I can smell it? Just because you wiped it off onto your tie doesn't mean I don't know it's there, Sasuke. I'm not an idiot."

"Do not concern yourself with it, Itachi. I cleaned it up promptly and dealt with it accordingly."

"Oh, I don't care about that. I'm just curious as to who it was."

There was pause.

"Haruno."

"That Sakura girl?"

Sasuke nodded. "She was obtained effortlessly. The way she follows me around when I leave school makes her a simple target for indulgence."

Itachi looked down at his brother.

"So is that why you're so happy at the moment?"

Sasuke shook his head, still with a stone cold expression on his face.

"No," he said seriously "her blood was merely to decrease my bloodlust for the time being. It's another individual that has sparked my interest."

"So you have no interests in this Haruno Sakura then?"

"None what-so-ever. Her blood was too thick and sweet. Sickly sweet. It was very hard to swallow."

"Well," sighed Itachi, straightening up, "all girls' blood is sweet. Maybe you're just too picky…" he finished, walking into the kitchen.

"No…" breathed Sasuke, smirking, "I just…hate sweet things."

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**A/N:** _I'm SOOO sorry that this took so long to put up! It's just, you know, life outside on fanfiction is a hecktic one ' But that's NO EXCUSE! I need to learn to write more often!!_

_Anyway, thank you all (again) for your fantastic comments on my last chapter :) just reading them made me feel all warm a fuzzy on the inside!! I hope this chapter was worth the wait... Please tell me what you think!!It's R&R!! You've already done one R now it's time for the other one hehe!! (you know, if you want to that is...I'm just happy that people are reading my story!!) But I would like your opinions on the way I'm making Sasuke talk :) I mean, it's a little different from his usual dialect but I thought that it was a nice touch and that it suits him...thoughts? :)  
_


	6. Five alive

_A/N: As usual, I do not own Naruto, bla bla bla, Sasuke's sexy, bla bla bla...You get it, right? ENJOY!_

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For the first time in Uzumaki Naruto's life, he was early for school

For the first time in Uzumaki Naruto's life, he was early for school. He wasn't early because he had wished to be, he just couldn't sleep any more than four hours the previous night. He had had a restless night, but not the kind that leaves you dazed and disoriented in the morning. It was the lack of sleep that caused you to get more and more anxious by the minute until you had too much built up energy. He had sprinted to school after rushing through his morning routine unreasonably, arriving there almost an hour before the first warning bell. Time did not faze Naruto that morning, as it usually did, all thoughts that swam around under his head of spiky blonde hair were concentrated solely on one thing;

Seeing _him_ again.

In the past, Naruto had built up the reputation of always being the last person to enter the room. This was probably because he had a tendency to sleep-in after staying up too late, watching television or eating ramen. But, within one day at this new school, his 17 years streak had halted, and it was all because of the influence of one boy.

As Naruto ran through the school's front gates he began wondering why one person could have this effect on him. He had known this brown haired boy for less than 24 hours and, already, he was entirely infatuated with him. Every thought was surrounding this one person and every thing reminded Naruto of him. The whole scenario of wanted to be around someone so much that it made his chest hurt confused the blonde, he had never felt his heart so high in his chest before. The feelings were new and foreign to him but he didn't want them to disappear, whatever they were.

When he ran up the stairs towards his classroom, all the questions he was asking seemed meaningless. It didn't matter to him why he was feeling the way he was or what he was actually feeling. All that matter was he was getting closer and closer the hazeled-haired boy who had him completely smitten.

Unfortunately, he built up his expectations too high, so when he finally burst through the door of the small, white classroom, his face dropped slightly when he saw that the boy was not inside.

The blonde laughed at his own stupidity, mumbling something about being an idiot as he checked his watch for the first time that morning. He made his way up to his seat at the far, right corner of the room.

After he sat down, he examined the room. Although there was more than forty minutes until the first bell, there were already four students in the classroom.

The first was a pale girl with short, navy hair who was sitting in the middle of the second row. She was reading, her baby blue eyes were moving across each line at an alarming race; a speed at which he doubted even the teacher could read.

Second was a tan girl sitting in the fourth row on the far left. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and a half fringe was covering the right side of her face. She was staring out the window, as if she were waiting for someone. Her head was leaning on her left hand casually as her elbow rested on the table in front of her.

The remaining two were in the back row, opposite side of the room to Naruto. Both were male and the one closest to Naruto was sitting on his table, his feet on top of a chair while his elbows rested upon his knees. This boy had his hair pushed back into a tight ponytail, no visible loose strands, and his eyes were closed. It didn't look like he was sleeping, but it looked like he wished he was. The person who sat next to him was a rather large male, with tuffs of hair coming out either side of a strangely shaped hat and spiral marks on either one of his cheeks. He was holding onto a chip packet protectively.

Naruto had seen all these people the day before when Sasuke had shown him around the school. They had all either glanced at him casually, giggled at his very presence or acknowledged him in some way. As they had walked through the halls and the courtyard many people – teachers included – had approached him cautiously to ask him for advice of various school related matters. When Naruto had asked Sasuke casually about this obvious popularity, Sasuke replied that he was the student body president and shrugged it off as nothing important.

Having only the knowledge of what a student body president was from his previous schools, the fact that Sasuke pushed aside the topic as unimportant surprised the blonde. He had always pictured the head of the student body to be someone who would abuse their power and let their control over the school go to their heads, but the second he had learnt that Sasuke was the student body president and seen him striding around the campus with confidence and answering questions kindly, not turning a single one down, Naruto saw the position in a new light, a better light, and he couldn't picture anyone better suited for the job than the Uchiha.

The tour had passed without dilemma and, besides the occasional questioning glance or envious glare he received from some of the student population as he and Sasuke passed, Naruto felt comfortable and relaxed walking around the halls of the previously foreign environment. But, whether this was because he had become more accustomed to him surroundings or because of the company he was with, he didn't know.

Over the duration of the day, only one strange thing had happened. It had occurred after school, just after Sasuke had shown the blonde where his locker was and what the combination was. Naruto wasn't fazed by the fact that the brunette may permanently know Naruto's combination and be able to access his new locker whenever he pleased because the blonde knew it wouldn't use it much anyway.

As Naruto had closed his locker he turned to face the brunette and was surprised to find the boy's onyx eyes meeting his own. The blonde instantly became overly self-conscious and looked away, embarrassed. After he felt the heat lift from his face and he was certain that his skin was no longer flushed he glanced up where the pale boy had been standing only to find himself looking down an empty corridor. Furrowing his eyebrows together, he looked around, confused, searching what he could see of the halls while remaining standing at his locker. He turned around after concluding that the dark haired boy was not in front of him and sighed when he met more empty space. He dropped his head in annoyance, mumbling 'teme' under his breath as he turned to walk towards the exit.

"Who are you calling teme, dobe?"

He had barely taken a step when he looked up to find a slim, pale face only inches away from his own, deep brown eyes staring into his blue ones. In surprise, Naruto let out a high pitched squeak and immediately slapped one of his hands over his mouth to refrain from making any other embarrassing noises. Unfortunately, being in mid stride, this sudden jolt from his own hand had caused him to off balance himself and he lost his feet from under him. But, as he began falling backwards, a strong, elegant hand clasped itself around his wrist and Naruto was instantly pulled forward, colliding with the Uchiha's chest. The fair-haired boy shivered at the sudden contact, feeling the coldness of Sasuke's skin seep through his shirt. This cold temperature was immediately cancelled out when he felt all the blood rush to his cheeks as his face turned a bright, red shade. Naruto froze where he stood, not daring to move, still trying to figure out what had just happened and a cool hand slid itself under his chin and pulled his head up gently. Naruto looked back and forth between both of the Uchiha's deep, mysterious eyes, trying to unlock what they were saying to him as they looked back into his azure orbs.

Sasuke smirked slightly and gently slid his fingertips across the blonde's neck as though it were the most fragile thing he'd ever encountered, before he placed his hand on Naruto's cheek.

"See you tomorrow, dobe." This was nothing more than a gentle whisper and, the second Naruto had blinked, the whisper was gone, along with the one who had conceived it.

"Stupid teme…"

Naruto was torn abruptly from his thoughts of daydreaming about the day before when the door at the front of the classroom was slide open too forcefully, producing a loud slam that echoed throughout the classroom. The blonde looked towards the entranceway of the room, searching for the source of the sound. A pale girl was standing in the doorway, bright pink hair reflecting the light that was shining in through the window and emerald eyes staring blankly ahead of her. She was hunched over slightly, the way you would after a night of restlessness and her delicate hands were trembling subtly at her sides. Naruto watched as she began walking forward. Her movements were jerky and stiff as if each step caused her unbelievable effort. She turned her head slowly and glanced around the room in a disoriented fashion, seemingly confused about her surroundings. Naruto noticed that, although her eyes were an incredible shade of green, they were lacking life and all around her eyes were obvious black cylinders that seemed to make her eyelids heavier.

"Hey Forehead!" Naruto turned to see the pony-tailed girl walking bubbly towards the new occupant of the room. "What's up with you? Halloween isn't for ages, what are you doing with your costume on already?" she chimed, motioning towards the bags under the pink haired girl's eyes. She smirked, apparently pleased with her insult.

"Shut up…" the limp girl whispered pathetically, "Ino-pig…" and then her eyes slowly drooped shut and she fell backwards onto he cold, linoleum floor.

"Sakura!" The screech echoed through the classroom and out into the halls and the fair-haired girl was instantly beside the fallen girl. She began shaking her by the shoulders violently, desperately trying to wake her. Within a few moments the other occupants of the classroom, Naruto included, were down next to the two girls, worried and confused expressions plastered on their faces.

"I-I'll go get the nurse!" The pale, dark haired girl stuttered in slight hysterics and began backing out of the room.

"Run Hinata!" the blonde girl shouted and Hinata turned quickly, startled, and ran out of the room.

"Sakura? Sakura? Come on, Sakura, wake up…"

"Ino, shaking her like that isn't going to help her get up any sooner," said the pony-tailed boy, his face set with a look of boredom, "if anything, it'll just make her worse."

"But, I can't just sit here and do nothing, Shikamaru!" Ino said frantically, looking up at Shikamaru desperately.

"I know but just wait until the nurse arrives, she'll know what to do."

"I don't think it's going to be that easy," the chubby boy said, a worried tone lacing his words. He was knelt down beside Sakura, his eyebrows furrowed as if he had noticed something unusual. The trio looked at him.

"Choji," Shikamaru whined, "don't make Ino worry more then she already is…"

"No, I mean…" Choji hesitated, "look at this."

Naruto knelt down beside Choji and rocked forward onto the balls of his feet to get a closer look at what he was motioning to. Naruto followed the boys' chubby arm down to where it was hovering just above the left side of the girls' neck where a large clump of her pink hair had stuck itself to her skin, glued there by something sticky. Choji brought his hand down and carefully pushed the strands away. He immediately flinched away after doing so and Naruto's eyes widen slightly when he saw why.

On Sakura's neck there were two small holes that drilled themselves deep into her veins. Around each of the holes it was a deep purple colour, bruised and swollen, and dark red blood stained her blemish free skin around each piercing.

Naruto had had many experiences with bruises and cuts, but nothing like this. He knew that when a cut healed it became a scab or a crusty sore before healing over completely but the blonde could see from the swelling that this wound on the girls neck had happened far enough away that it should have begun healing. Instead, there appeared to be no healing happening at all and all the body had done was thicken her blood at the bottom of the holes. It was as though the body didn't notice the wound was there. Either that or it had accepted that it was there.

"No way…" Ino breathed, her hand subconsciously traveling to her neck.

Shikamaru sighed, "Well, it has been about a week, it was bound to happen sooner or later…" he said, shaking his head subtly.

Naruto glanced at the trio in front of him, pulling his gaze away from the scars on the girls' neck, and looked between his three classmates in confusion in regards to their conversation.

"Um…" he started lamely. They all looked at him in surprise, apparently on just noticing he was there. "Excuse me but what are you talking about? What are these things?" he finished, motioning towards Sakura's marks.

The trio looked taken aback and they glanced at each other, each with the same level of confusion in their eyes.

Ino was the first to look back at Naruto. "You really don't know?" She asked. Naruto shook his head, "I haven't been here very long."

Ino looked at Shikamaru and he sighed in a troubled fashion and scratched the back of his head.

"Well," he started, forcing out the word as though it were the first word of a long lecture a teacher was giving a group of rebellious students. "When you look at these marks, what's the first thing that comes to mind?"

Naruto glanced down at the holes for a moment before looking back up at the pony-tailed boy and replying seriously,

"That they hurt."

* * *

_A/N: Ok, here I go: **I AM SO SORRY FOR TAKING SO LONG ON THE UPDATE! GOMENASAI! **I kind of went to France in between those this chapter and the last and I was lacking in Microsoft to type in on my computer so...yeah...still...sorry...And I'm sorry if this is too short. I've said it once, I'll say it again, Word is misleading when it comes to the length of my chapters...also, any typos in this...yeah, ignore them please. :)  
_

_And I _know _that there isn't that much sasunaru (gomenasai X2) but that's because I needed to get this out of the way. The next chapter will be better, I promise :) _**R&R **if you'd like to :) I appreciate all comments! (_If you want me to reply to your comment, just tell me and I will without delay!! (except time zone delay...but that doesn't count...)_


	7. Level six

_**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto. (I'm not going to go into detailes about what I'd do to it if I did...I'll just say, it involves body paint...kukuku. Don't ask.)_

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The tension in the room had become unbearable and Naruto was relieved to escape it. From room 32, Naruto was maneuvering his way through the still empty corridors in search for his new destination.

As he walked, unrushed, shoes stomping across the seemingly spotless floor, his thoughts wandered back to the conversation he had had less than a few minutes ago…

_..._

"'_That they hurt?_'" Shikamaru repeated. He was staring blankly at Naruto, unamused, opting on the idea that the blonde wasn't taking the question seriously. When Naruto raised his eyebrows at the stare, apparently oblivious to how, well, stupid his response was, the pony-tailed boy rolled his eyes.

He sighed. "I'll rephrase the question…what do you think _made_ these marks?" He paused and then added, "What _creature_ do they remind you of?"

Shikamaru spat out the word 'creature' with a hint of disgust. Naruto wanted to take a step back as he felt the venom from that one word, as though it were stinging him in the heart, but he refrained from doing so. Instead, he pushed his gaze and concentration towards the candy haired girls neck, examining the wounds for, what he hoped to be, the last time.

The holes were deep, deeper than any spider or snake could penetrate, around 2 to 3 cm down into her veins. The edges around the wounds were smoother than any other part of her skin that was visible to Naruto and paler, almost as white as snow. They were perfectly in line with one another, completely symmetrical and narrowed the further down into her flesh they went.

They were too flawless to be any kind of wild animal or be self-inflicted. But, the more Naruto thought about it, the more confused he became because, when he put all these pieces together, only one answer really rolled off his tongue.

"Vampire…" he whispered.

This was mostly to himself, to see what it sounded like if he actually said it out loud, but he said it loud enough for the trio to hear him. When Naruto saw their sad, confirming expressions he stared at them in disbelief and began babbling profusely.

"Wait, what? What do you mean? You think a _vampire_ did this?" he said frantically, putting emphasis on the word 'vampire' as though it were the most absurd word he had ever heard. And at that moment, there was a high probability that it was.

"Vampires don't exist! They're make-believe! You guys think that you have a vampire walking the streets and sucking peoples blood in the dead of night?" Naruto laughed awkwardly. "Are you guys alright in the hea--" Naruto stopped. He gulped as he watched his three classmates all glare up at him, as though they were daring him to continue. Their eyes held no amusement of any kind, their faces held stone cold expressions. They were definitely not kidding.

"You're serious…" Naruto mumbled. This was a statement, not a question.

Ino sighed and glanced down at Sakura, who was still sleeping soundly on her lap.

"Believe what you'd like, but…" she started, "You better be careful about your assumptions of reality and myths while you're here, because, in this village, taking these things lightly might cause you some…" She looked up, her gaze hard. "Trouble."

.

"Please, explain all this to me." Naruto said finally, unable to remain in silent seriousness for very long. "If this is _really_ _real_ then I want to know about it."

He looked at them desperately. Naruto didn't know if any of this was true or if it was just a sick joke they were playing on him but the hurt expressions he had received when he started accusing them of being crazy for thinking that vampires existed, they were not the type of looks you were taught how to give in drama class. They were genuine, and that alone had sparked Naruto's curiosity. Well…that and the two deep holes in Sakura's neck.

Choji was the first to speak up. "You really want to know? You realize that we aren't joking around here. If you're not going to believe us then you should leave now."

Naruto sat down; legs crossed, and folded his arms over his chest.

"I know I'm new here but," he started, speaking gently, "even though I'm not fully convinced that some mythical creature made those marks, I still know that it wasn't something normal. So if there is really something going on in this town involving the living undead, then I want to be clued in on it."

Shikamaru glanced at his two companions then back up to Naruto, a face of obvious bothersome plastered on his face. "What do you want to know?" he asked simply.

Naruto thought for a moment before answering. "Before," he said finally, "you said something about it 'being about a week'. What did you mean?"

Shikamaru rubbed the side of his neck as though he didn't want to answer the question, even though he had been the one to invite Naruto to ask it. Hesitantly, he began anyway.

"Around this time every week, someone is attacked, found with only enough blood left inside them to keep them alive…and a bite mark on their neck." He swallowed and continued. "It seems that these creatures can only go without feasting for a certain amount of time before they need to satisfy their hunger again, aka: a week or so. We've all been able to figure out when it is _it_, or _they_, attack. But, even knowing that, we still don't know _who_ they'll attack so it's always a shock to everyone when we find the newest victim, especially in a small town like this where everyone knows…well, everyone."

"'It _or_ they?'" Naruto repeated, bewildered, obviously noticing they way Shikamaru had emphasized that part of his explanation. "What do you mean "it _or_ they"? Don't you know how many there are?"

"Well obviously not." It was Ino speaking this time, rather loudly and impatiently. "There is no way of knowing. No one's even seen one of them. Every time there's a victim they don't remember anything and when they're attacked there is no one else around for miles that might have possibly seen them. The only evidence that we have that they even **do** exist is…" She paused and looked down at Sakura. "Well…this."

Naruto sat in silence for a moment, choosing not to speak. There was a question nagging him at the back of his mind but he wasn't sure if he should ask it. Seeing the previous reactions, he was afraid that anything he might say from this point on would touch on something that didn't want to be touched.

Choji was the first to notice his new quiet disposition, surprisingly.

"If you want to ask a question you should probably do it now. Not many other people are as willing as we are to give out all this information. It's not exactly something this town likes to show-off."

Naruto bit his lip for a second but obeyed, letting his curiosity get the better of him.

"How long has this been going on?"

Silence followed.

Naruto looked from one face to another and wondered whether they had spoken too quietly or too quickly for them to hear.

Just as he was about to repeat himself Shikamaru let out a short sharp breath.

"For over 100 years. _100. Years_." He emphasized. "That's how long this town has been under the "_Sharingan curse_'."

* * *

**A/N: **Sorry for the dots...It's wouldn't let me put in stars or anything...but hopefully you get that the three dots by themselves are "we're going back to the convo" dots and the one dot by its self was suppose to be a blank line...

Yeah...

_Anyway: _Did I take _ages_ to update again?? You bet I did!! Angry mob: YOU SUCK SALVIAR! etc, etc...I know, I know...

GOMENAISAI! bows I'll make it up to you!! I have some sasunaru goodness in mind for the next chapter!! _squee!_ :)

I would have put it in this chapter but I got a few people asking what the heck I was talking about in the chapter before (in **a friendly manner**, of course) so I thought I'd try to explain :) (**If there is still something you don't understand, please don't hesitate to tell me. I'll try to clear it up for you!! ok?**)

For all of those who have **R&R** previously, I cannot tell you how much love I am feeling for y'all! Thank you! I promise, I'll make this story awesum so I won't let you down!! bows again

Next chapter quicker?? I'll try my best!! (reviews help tho!! haha! I'm kidding I'm kidding. I just like to hear opinions. Good or bad :) So **R&R** is appreciated!!)


	8. Seven digits

_**A/N:** I DO not OWN NARUTO -- But I couldn't ask for a better person TO own it than Kishimoto (he likes sasunaru goodness too :) )_

.

* * *

Naruto stopped in front of two oak doors, both with symmetrical brass door handles that seemed to ask to be grasped. A long, wooden sign, smooth and glazed, hung over the entrance, its bold, black letters etching into Naruto brain. _Library_, it read. Naruto grinned happily. It wasn't the fact that he was at the library that made him pleased – on the contrary, libraries were the only room in any school that he tried his greatest to avoid. It was the fact that he had managed to find it without getting lost or distracted along the way, which was no easy feat for one with the attention span of a pickle.

Without delaying, Naruto griped the brass handles and thrust open the heavy, well made doors.

The blonde was hit with the overwhelming scent of ancient paper backs and leather coverings that inhabited the room. The scent wasn't unpleasant, but it was different and foreign to Naruto, being one who kept his distance from books. Naruto scanned the room. To his right was a computer lab with 20 odd monitors humming atop finely sanded wooden desks. Under each desk was a sea blue mobile chair, all of which had black wheels at the bottom of their frames. The lab was in a corner, surrounded on three sides by walls – two from the buildings side and one that had been built in to allow the lab more privacy from the rest of the library. A curtain, the same colour as the chairs, hung, pushed to the side, of the wide opening that allowed you access into the three walled-isolated room. It served as the final wall, should anyone require more privacy or quiet in their isolated room.

On his left was a large desk, not pushed up against a wall but placed in the middle of the left side of the room, making it more noticeable. On the desk lay a tag that said "_Inquiry desk"_ and Naruto assumed that this was where you could ask for help in finding the books that were difficult to locate. The books were all past the lab and the desk. Naruto had to take a few steps forward -- through a large archway that he had not noticed when he walked in -- to see them all. All across the walls, all lined up in columns for easier access, were shelves upon silver shelves stacked with every book that you could imagine. In the centre of the room were six, perfectly aligned desks, each with four chairs at them, which Naruto could only assume was the area where you could study while being in an environment that surrounded you with research material. The ceiling was much higher than the ceiling in any other part of the school, which allowed more room to fill up with taller shelves, and more books.

The amount of knowledge bouncing off the room gave Naruto a headache. Looking at all the research material made him dizzy and he had to back out through the arch way to steady himself and tear his eyes away from the amount of fantasy books, crime novels and autobiographies that laid themselves around the room.

"We get that reaction a lot," giggled a voice beside him. Naruto darted his eyes towards the sound but he immediately softened his gaze. A middle aged woman, with short brown hair and deep brown eyes, was sitting behind the reception desk he had seen when he walked in. She was looking at him kindly with a sweet smile on her face that showed she had not said what she had out of meanness, she had just said it out of observation.

"Our library holds this towns largest amount of books and magazines and is even used by the public for its research material. Many people are overwhelmed by the height of our shelves too."

Naruto walked over to her and she chuckled to herself.

"We don't get many students in here before school starts," she said, still regarding him kindly as she picked up a keychain off her desk and began fidgeting with it between her fingers. Her desk was very organised and clean so the pig keychain she was holding looked very out of place. "Is there anything you need help with?"

"Actually yes," Naruto said quickly. He hadn't come to the library just to escape the seemingly crowded class room or to kill time. He had, surprisingly, come to the library with a motive, to do what one usually does in a library; do research. The only problem was that there was no easy way of asking where he could find information of his interested topic of research, but Naruto could assume that, by the words his classmates had told him, it was better to bring out the topic as soon as possible instead of dragging it on.

"I'm looking for books on particular subject..."

The woman laughed lightly, "Doing a last minute cram session?" she asked, winking.

Naruto smiled but shook his head. "No," he began, "I'm actually looking for some information on...on _vampires_."

The receptionist's reaction to that soul word was bizarre. Her eyes became wider and her smile vanished, taking with it the colour in her skin, leaving her white and pale.

"We have no books of that sort here," she said sternly, as though she were suddenly angry. "We...we don't like our student's writing papers on mythical beings!" Naruto felt that the last bit was only added on as a side thought. He knew that she was trying to use it was an excuse when she had seen Naruto's confused look.

"Please, is there anything else you wish the research?" she pleaded.

There it was again. That hurt and stressed look that the three others had given him when he began asking questions about Sakura's wounds. Now there was definitely no doubt in his mind.

This curse was real.

"Uh...yes!" Naruto said suddenly, surprising the pale girl. He decided he'd go along with the topic change to escape the uneasiness he had loomed over their previously cheerful conversation. "I need to do some research on..." Naruto racked his brain for a believable subject and finally came up with, "History! Yes, that's right! I have a History essay due soon!" He smiled an awkward smile but the receptionist took it happily and her mood instantly lifted back to how it was when Naruto had walked in.

"Wonderful," she exclaimed, "Let me show you where the books on that are!"

.

As intimidating as the bookshelves were from the front door, they were even worse up close. The receptionist, who had formally introduced herself as Shizune only moments ago, had motioned Naruto towards the large assortion of history books on the far right side of the library. Now Naruto stood between two tall, metal structures. Row after row of shelves crowded with interestingly covered books that seemed to stare down at him and belittle him. Naruto almost felt like he needed to sit in the corner because of the way it seemed the shelves were 'looking at him'.

Obviously he had lied about the essay, and even if he hadn't he wouldn't have come the library anyway, but he still felt the need to keep up the charade. He began walking down the aisle, looking up and down the menacing number of books that surrounded him. As he was looking down, something small and flimsy hit him in the forehead. He looked up and in front of him dangled a piece of nearly transparent string, the type that you couldn't see unless you knew it was there. His curiosity getting the better of him, Naruto grabbed the string and pulled it tight to see what it was attached to. When he followed it, it seemed to disappear into the ceiling tiles. So, naturally, the blonde pulled on the string harder.

A quiet _click_ was heard from the large, square tile above his head. Naruto watched in amazement as the ceiling tile extended downward in front of him, before it spread out into many different shaped pieces of ceramic and, out of itself, it constructed a small flight of stairs that looked so sturdy that even Choji could stand on them. They let off a satisfied clicking noise once they finished moving and then they sat there, silently, as if they had been there the whole time.

Naruto was gobbed-smacked. That had been one of the coolest things he had ever seen! He spun around to see if Shizune had seen the incredible display but noticed the desk she was sitting at was completely out of sight from behind the bookshelf. He shrugged and looked up the newly formed stairs that lay in front of him. It was dark at the top, inside the roof tiles, almost pitch black. The only light Naruto could see was very dull and far into the room.

Ignoring the nagging voice that reminded him to 'look before he leaped'; Naruto climbed the stairs slowly and cautiously entered the room. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust from the bright morning sun that burst through the windows in the library to this dimly lit room with only one small, tinted window to the end of the room. When they did Naruto looked around in confusion.

The room was very small, around the size one would expect a jail cell to be. Its brick walls were painted a shade of charcoal black and dark scarlet drapes were hung randomly around the room. On the walls to the left and right of the blonde, there were six dark mahogany shelves, each with many large books, crystal balls and viles of red liquid set on their wooden surfaces. Behind him a large, white symbol was on the wall, its chalky texture visible even with the minimal amount of light. It was a thick circle that took up most of the wall and inside it was an oval that was laced with lines that contorted into various different directions. Around the outside of both of the circles was writing in a language that Naruto had never seen before, its different curves and shapes of letters gave off a very sinister feeling.

But the thing that caught Naruto's attention the most was sitting directly in front of him, under the small window, sitting on a dark stand.

It was a large, thick book. Its leather cover shone a dark navy blue under the dim light that came through the tinted window. A heavy brass lock held the back and front cover of the book together tightly. The cover had an intricate and complicated pattern on it, one of which seemed to tell the blonde to approach it. Although the lock was obviously unbreakable, that didn't stop Naruto from tugging on it a few times on the slim chance it might break off. He ran his hand over the cover; its smooth, cold surface tickling his skin. The book was so mysterious...It reminded him of someone...

Naruto heard a loud slam behind him. The room had suddenly become darker and when he turned towards the sound he realised that the trapdoor he had come through had shut. Naruto saw no one near the entrance and relaxed, assuming that the door had closed on its own. He slowly tore his eyes away from the door and back towards the book.

"What are you doing?"

Naruto jumped backwards and managed to trip himself with his own feet, resulting in him crashing to the floor a meter away from the book and the voice. The blonde snapped his head up to the owner of the husky voice.

"Teme!" Naruto yelled, "What are you doing here?"

"That's my line," Sasuke said seriously, resting his arms casually on the thick book and resting his head on one of his hands. His face depicted a somewhat uninterested expression but Naruto still found it to be one of the hardest things to look away from, especially as the dark haired boy seemed to glow as the dim sunlight came through the window behind him and outlined his figure.

Sasuke didn't seem to notice Naruto's stare, or he just chose not to mention it. "You're interested in vampires then?" He said, keeping complete eye contact with the blonde.

Naruto swallowed and inched back a little but remained sitting down. "Not so much _interested_... It's more –"

"Someone told you about the curse, right?" Sasuke interrupted, his voice monotone.

Naruto nodded slowly and watched as the onyx eyed boy lifted himself off the mystifying book. He paced towards the bookshelf to Naruto's right, his eyes scanning its contents.

"What are you doing up here?" Naruto asked finally, "How did you find this place?"

"Again, that's my line, dobe," Sasuke replied, picking a small, brown book off the shelf and opening it. "How did _you_ manage to find this place?"

Naruto sat up straight, defensively, "I was just looking through the history books for something interesting and then a piece of cord hit me in the face. So _naturally_ I pulled on it to see where it came from and some stairs came down from the ceiling! It was so cool! Did you see the stairs?" Naruto said quickly, excitement suddenly overflowing his brain with the memory.

"And do you always go into random dark spaces in the ceiling without thinking? Or was this a one time thing?" Sasuke snickered, ignoring Naruto's question.

The blonde scratched the back of his head, "I was just curious, is all..." he mumbled.

"But what about you, huh? You're no better!" Naruto accused, pointing a finger at the raven haired boy.

Sasuke smirked and shut his book, "This is my place, usuratonkachi."

Naruto raised his eyebrows. "_Your_ place? Really?" Sasuke nodded and placed the book back on the shelf.

"You're interested in the curse too?" Naruto asked innocently.

Sasuke look straight at Naruto, his eyes suffocation the blonde with their seriousness. "You could say that." He said slowly.

Sasuke took a step towards the blonde. "So," he said smirking, "what do you want to know?"

Naruto automatically pushed himself further back as Sasuke took a step forward.

"We – well," he stuttered, "I understand what a vampire is..."

"A preternatural being, commonly believed to be a reanimated corpse that is said to suck the blood of sleeping persons at night." Sasuke recited.

Naruto stared at Sasuke for a minute, unamused by his_ know-it-all_ism. "Yeah...that..._but_," the tanned boy continued, "If that's true then why hasn't everyone just, you know, killed these vampires? By, like, putting a stake through their hearts?"

Sasuke crossed his arms across his chest. "Because there are two problems with that plan. One: No one in the village knows who the vampires are—"

"Oh yeah..." Naruto said stupidly, remembering that Ino had mentioned something about that.

"And two," Sasuke continued, "Even if they did know who they were, in the past when some of the towns people may have figured out who these creatures were, there is evidence that they still could not kill them."

"Not kill them?" Naruto said, confused. "Why not?"

Sasuke took another step forward. Naruto didn't move this time.

"Long ago, the ancestors of the current vampires preformed a ritual. The ritual stated that in return for giving the rest of their lives as sacrifices and no future vampire living more than 1000 years, the rest of their brethren would no longer have to fear wooden stakes, fire, sunlight or the chance of being beheaded. In short, they would no longer have to fear death."

"...Aren't they already dead though?"

"Technically they are, I suppose. They cannot see their reflections because they have no soul, they can heal in a matter of minutes from any injury because the dead don't feel pain and they can live for hundreds of years and never age a day... But the idea of losing everything they have done in their time as a vampire because someone drove a stake though their heart would be just as terrifying as death is for humans."

"Why would it be? They've already died once, why would it be scary the second time?" Naruto asked solemnly, sitting cross-legged and listening intently to every word that came out of the beautiful boy's lips.

"Because, believe it or not, many vampires do not live once, die and then live again as the undead. The majority of vampires... are born dead. So their '_lives'_ as a vampire is the only thing they have."

Naruto stared at the black haired boy, mouth slightly agape. _Born_ as a vampire? Naruto didn't think that was possible...

Sasuke took another step forward, slowly and quietly. The blonde didn't seem to notice as he was lost in his train of thought. Naruto closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking up at Sasuke. He noticed the smaller distance between them and, suddenly feeling very nervous, pushed himself back a little more. As he did, a question brought itself into being at the back of his mind.

"How do you know all this?" Naruto asked seriously, pushing himself back once more.

"Well," Sasuke breathed deeply. Naruto's back felt the brick walls cold surface on his back.

He couldn't move any further.

Sasuke took another step forward but he was not looking at Naruto. He was looking to the

side, as if he were pondering on the question. "Let's just say that..." Sasuke was standing right over Naruto. Barely an inch was between them. Naruto looked up at Sasuke and was instantly hypnotised into staring into his deep, dark eyes.

Sasuke smirked. "Let's just say that I've done my research."

Unexpectedly, Naruto saw a hand in from of his face that moved so quickly that it was almost a blur in front of his eyes. He was suddenly on his feet, almost eye to eye with the Uchiha, one of the ravens pale hands around the collar of this shirt where the boy had pulled him up.

Up close, Sasuke's eyes appeared to be dancing between different shades of black, brown and red. A dark crimson colour laced itself around Sasuke's iris.

"Sasuke..." The blonde whispered pathetically, forcibly tearing his eyes from the mystifying pools of colour in front of him.

Sasuke lingered his lips just above the blonde's, suddenly making the distance between them smaller than a centimetre. Naruto looked and saw complete determination in the taller boy's eyes.

"Sasuke? What are you--" But Naruto was stopped mid sentence. He took in a sharp breath as the remaining distance between them disappeared and the blonde felt the Uchiha's cold, soft lips pressed against his own.

Naruto's eyes went wide with confusion until the raven haired boy bit Naruto's bottom lip, forcing him to close them automatically in a sudden rush of pleasure. Naruto felt Sasuke deepen the kiss and Naruto's head was pushed back against the wall. Sasuke's hands wound themselves around Naruto's wrists. Pale hands brought tanned arms beside the blonde's head and pressed them against the wall. Naruto felt something wet moving across his bottom lip and Naruto smiled sub consciously as it tickled the delicate skin. A tongue darted through the small opening between Naruto's lips and began caressing the sides of the blonde's mouth. Naruto stifled a moan as he began intertwining his tongue with Sasuke's, fighting for dominance.

Naruto moaned as Sasuke's tongue traced the inside of his mouth reaching in all the right places and hitting every pleasurable nerve. Naruto felt Sasuke smirk under the kiss and pull his lips slowly away from the blonde's, licking at the blonde's bottom lip as he exited. The blonde was panting softly as they pulled apart, a string of saliva still joining them. His adrenaline shot up as felt those cool, _delicious_ lips trace themselves down his jaw line and across a vein in his neck. Naruto blushed at the tickling sensation before biting down on his own lip suddenly, trying not to make any embarrassing noises as the dark haired boy sucked on the vein. Naruto felt a tongue glide over the top the position the boy had just been before he felt teeth run over his neck.

He felt something sharp prick his skin.

"Sasuke...?" Naruto asked breathlessly, trying to figure out what the sharp pain was. There

was a sudden growl from the pale boy's throat and as quickly as the pain appeared, it was gone. He couldn't feel anything on his neck anymore, not even Sasuke lips. Naruto tried to see through the haze his mind had created during the encounter and looked down at Sasuke. The pressure on one of his wrists disappeared and he felt a cooling sensation on the side of his neck. Sasuke brought his head up and remained eye level with the blonde. Naruto could see a look of extreme concern and sadness in Sasuke's eyes.

The blonde didn't understand what had just happened but he could see from the colours swimming through the Uchiha's eyes that asking would only hurt the man in front of him. He had seen those eyes before, the expression they were holding. He used to see them every morning when he woke up and looked in the mirror. Naruto knew that words never solved the types of problems that were behind these eyes, so he did the only think he could think of to make Sasuke forget.

Naruto slowly brought his face close to Sasuke and softly pressed his lips to the boys smooth, pale ones.

* * *

.

_**A/N: **Okay, here it goes..._

_I'm SOO SORRY!! grovel grovel beg bow ect... I took about 63726187 years to write and put this up...I'm a bad cookie and you can all shoot me :) Even?_

_Anyway, I said I would, so I did! Sasunaru! :) Hope it wasn't too boring for you!! Tell me what you think :) (It's gonna get better.)  
_

_I really need a proof reader...I probably have 2839028 mistakes in there that are stupid..._

**R&R** is goooooood! **R&R** gets piiiiiie! **R&R** makes me write!! And Y'all know I need it after this wait / (_Does anyone even read this...?)_


	9. Eight Pack

_**A****/N:** I do **not** own Naruto, nor anything associated with Naruto...except my Naruto cosplay...**THAT** I own...unless Kishimoto takes it away from me...Which he wouldn't._

_**--Enjoy--**_

* * *

Blackboards. They always struck Naruto as a very odd way to teach. He didn't understand how listening to the scratchy sound of powder falling down a black surface was suppose to teach them anything except how to tune themselves out. Of course, the blonde was perfectly fine being taught that, he'd get A's all around if they did, but they didn't, so he didn't.

It seemed that after the previous days encounter with the Uchiha in the small, dim room above the library, anything and everything reminded Naruto of the raven-haired boy; the colour of the blackboard matched his eyes. Those dark, mysterious, charcoal orbs that looked into Naruto's deep azure ones with such unwavering attention. The white of the chalk on the blackboard, mimicking the shade of the raven's pale skin, so smooth and unblemished, without a single scratch or mark. Impossibly perfect features like that of an oil painting or marble statue that could be found in the art room and flawless articulation that would only be challenge by a well-educated Japanese teacher.

Everything about Sasuke seemed too un-real for such a simple place and life. He seemed very…out of place, very detached from everything. The blonde had noticed this once he had gained the courage to watch the Uchiha from the corner of his eye, which wasn't until after the 'incident' in the hidden room. Although the pale boys desk was behind his own, Naruto had turned himself subtly in order to glance at the boy every now and then during the lesson. Just seeing the ebony-haired boy sitting there, entirely content with his environment was enough the make Naruto's chest tight – which he decided to passed off as heart-burn – so he wasn't able to look upon him for extended moments of time. Especially since, the more he glanced at the Uchiha, the more the Uchiha seemed to catch his glance, rendering the blonde completely mindless for a short period of time.

From the beginning of the first lesson to the end of the day, the dark haired boy said nothing to Naruto, and vise versa. The Uzuamki, who was rarely at a loss for words, seemed to have a complete 'jokers block' around the flawlessly structured boy so, although the blonde had kissed the raven willingly and the Uchiha had obviously seeked some form of physically contact with Naruto that morning, it all seemed to be meaningless the moment they walked out the heavy oak doors of the library.

Which left Naruto where he was at the moment, staring at a blackboard, in his small classroom, listening to the 5-minute warning bell and the endless chattering of his fellow classmates.

Oh, the fun of it all.

Worse still, as he took another glance behind him he saw that the raven-haired boy was not in class yet.

"You're Naruto, right?" This sudden, high-pitched voice startled the blue-eyed boy and he turned back around to face the front quickly. He saw that the source of the voice had been the bubble-gum pink-haired girl from the day before, only now she looked much healthier. Her hair was a more, almost blindingly, pink colour, her eyes were deep and emerald and her skin had returned to a healthy cream shade. She gazed at him kindly and Naruto couldn't help but notice that she had a scar of two hole marks in her neck, barely noticeable compared to the previous days encounter with them, but still there. The girl, who Naruto vaguely remembered being called Sakura, calmly lifted her hand up and brushed some of her soft, soft hair in front of the marks.

"Yeah," Naruto answered finally, "And your name's Sakura?" She nodded. "How are you feeling? You look a lot healthier today," Naruto said with a smile.

Sakura smiled back, the emotion reaching her eyes. "I'm feeling a lot better today, thank you. I'm sorry if yesterday gave you a scare," she whispered concerningly, "To think that you were exposed to that sort of thing when you only just got here…"

At this point Naruto couldn't contain himself; He laughed. Not a full on, heart-filled laugh, but a small carefree laugh that startled the pink-haired girl.

Naruto leant forwards towards her. "_You _were passed out on the floor and you're making sure whether _I'm_ okay?" he breathed out a small laugh before stopping abruptly. This conversation reminded him of something…

_'You are pushed up against a wall, unable to escape the grasp of a complete stranger, and all you seem to notice is that…my skin is cold?'_

Naruto smiled at the memory. He only now realized how stupid he must have sounded to the raven-haired boy.

"I'm fine. Thank you, Sakura, for making sure I was okay."

She smiled gently again before pointing her thumb to three other people who were lounging on the seats at the front of the classroom. Naruto noticed that they were the three that he had talked to the day before: Ino, Shikamaru and Choji.

"I apologise on their behalf too. They're just a little skeptical of new students, just like everyone else here." Naruto glanced around the classroom and noticed that there were a few other students trying to hide the fact that they were listening in on his and Sakura's conversation.

"I understand," Naruto said, nodding, "It has something to do with the Sharingan Curse, right?"

Naruto noticed a couple of other people perk up when he mentioned the curse and Sakura leant forwards towards Naruto. "Try not to say that too loudly. A lot of families have been affected by it, everyone in this village fears it."

"Explain it to me," Naruto whispered back, leaning closer to the emerald eyed girl. "Explain to me what's happened, why it's happened. I've heard a brief history but I still want to know more. Please…" Naruto pleaded, though he didn't know why he wanted to know so desperately. "If not that, can you at least tell me what happened to you? How it happened? Where it happened?"

Sakura looked down briefly then raised her head and nodded energetically. "Okay," she whispered, "Sit with us at lunch, I'll tell you my story, okay?" Naruto nodded.

Sakura stood up slowly, "but really," she began, a small smile tickling her features. "The one in this school who you _should _be asking is---" Naruto heard the sliding door at the front of the classroom open and the whole room went silent.

Naruto watched as the pale figure, with its hands in its pockets and a bag over one of its broad shoulders, glided effortlessly into the room, up the small steps towards the back of the room to the desk behind Naruto. Sakura had stepped out of the way as he had approached her and she, along with the rest of the class, watched in awe as he put his book bag on his desk and sat down gracefully in his chair. At this point Sasuke looked up from beneath his long, dark bangs and glanced around the room in an uninterested fashion. As his eyes reached Naruto they rested on the blonde's, holding the stare. Naruto noticed that Sasuke's eyes seemed a different colour from the charcoal coloured ones he had fixed upon the blonde yesterday. They seemed to swim with a deep brown and a dark crimson, around in circles, like beautiful koi in a pond.

Naruto tried to ignore it and shook his head, dismissing the image. He looked back at the raven-haired boy, but continued to avoid his eyes.

"Oie, teme!" He whispered loudly as Sasuke continued to look at him through half-lidded eyes. "About yesterday---" A loud ringing noise interrupted Naruto in mid-sentence as the final bell rang. Iruka-sensei stepped inside the class, hushing everyone and ushering them back to their seats. Naruto was reduced to remaining facing the front, listening to the class discuss whether certain numbers actually equal letters. Algebra, he thinks it was called. Or something like that. He wasn't actually paying attention past the eyes he could feel boring into his back.

When the bell for lunch echoed through the halls, Sasuke was immediately on his feet and heading towards the door before the bell had even stopped ringing. Naruto began turning as he head the dark-haired boy begin passing him. Though, as he did, a soothing, almost inaudible voice reached his ears.

"5 Minutes. You know where." It whispered calmly. Naruto raised his head to question the boy but by the time he looked up, Sasuke was already out of the room.

.

He was here again, reading the wooden sign with gold letters engraved into it, just as he'd done the day before. He had told Sakura that he would meet her in the cafeteria at half lunch for her story telling, using "I need to study" as an excuse. Naruto didn't like lying, but in all honesty, he didn't actually think it was that untruthful, considering he did need to study up on the previous days events. The blonde managed to sneak past the receptionist this time, able to ignore the amount of books since he'd seen it before. Walking towards the history section, he saw a couple of other people reading in different areas of the library and, as he walked, he prayed that there wasn't anyone looking for something on history.

Luck was on his side.

As he checked the coast was clear, the staircase fell down by itself. Naruto figured that Sasuke had let it down from the inside somehow so he walked up into the familiar darkness. Just as before, the entire room was swallowed by darkness as soon as he'd stepped inside the room, but differently from before, there was no light coming in through the little window or any of the candles.

As Naruto squinted through the darkness trying to identify a figure a sudden coldness ran up his frame. Suddenly he was pushed down, lying with his back on the cold wood floor. The blonde winced as a pain shot up his arm unexpectedly when his elbow came in contact with the floor. He tried to reach to hold his arm but there was suddenly an enormous amount of weight placed on both his shoulders as he was pushed back down onto the floor. As the weight on his shoulders continued to keep him down, the blue-eyed boy felt, what he could only identify as knees, press down onto his forearms. A surprising amount of pressure was applied on his hips and Naruto's azure eyes widened visibly as he heard himself let out an uncontrolled gasp.

A snicker from the figure now straddling Naruto followed the blonde's reaction.

"Well, you sound happy to see me," it whispered intensely and even in complete darkness, Naruto could see a pair of deep crimson eyes gazing down at him.

"Sasuke…" the tanned boy breathed, "What are you doin--"

"You're too trusting, you know that, dobe?" The dark haired boy said plainly. "Didn't your mother ever tell you not to follow strangers into dark places?"

There was a brief pause from the blonde and Naruto was thankful that the room was so dark; so the raven couldn't see his face and the sadness welling up in his eyes. Sasuke looked down at him quizzically through the darkness.

"Why the long face? Was it something I said?"

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "How can you even see my face?"

"…I eat lots of carrots."

"Liar."

"How would you know? Do you eat any carrots?"

Naruto didn't reply and rolled his eyes. "What are you doing? Why are you sitting on me? Get off, teme!" Naruto yelled, squirming under the pale boys grip. He winced and stifled a painful whine as he felt the pain shoot up his arm again. This whimper quickly turned into a stifled moan when the boy on top of him shifted his hips forward and backward slightly, just enough for some friction. Naruto wasn't sure whether the raven-haired boy had done this intentionally, but either way Naruto needed to get the boy off him soon before he had an obvious 'problem'.

The raven clutched the blonde's elbows with either hand, trying to stop him from squirming. Not only did this allowed Naruto to identify exactly where the pain was coming from but it also served Sasuke's purpose as the writhing boys seized all movement.

"Sasuke…" The blonde haired boy sighed, defeated, "What do you want from me? Because I don't want to play this game. So if that's all this is to you then…" Naruto wasn't sure how to finish that sentence. Luckily he didn't have to because all the pressure on his body suddenly disappeared and the blonde was left lying on the floor by himself.

The room was suddenly engulfed in light as Sasuke lit one of the candles and stood by it, looking down at his left hand in, what Naruto could see as being, an abnormal amount of interest. Naruto sat up and cringed as he cradled his arm, holding his elbow. "Why are they called 'funny bones'" He mumbled, "It's not funny…"

"Dobe, this isn't a game to me," the pale boy said genuinely, still looking at his hand. "I just find you very easy to be around. I don't hold back, I _can't_ hold back, I'm unable to. Because there's…_something_ about you that I'm drawn to an unbelievable amount. You don't understand just how much I am…"

Naruto momentarily forgot about his arm as his mind went blank. Drawn to him? Was Sasuke being serious? He sounded serious but…

"And by the way," the dark-haired boy said, interrupting the blonde's thoughts, "You're bleeding." He said, closing his hand tightly and finally looking at the boy still sitting on the floor.

Naruto looked at his arm and noticed that his elbow was bleeding. Not a large amount, but enough to leave a little pool of blood in the hand that was cupped around his elbow.

Naruto made a face at the sight of the blood. "Well, now I know you 'like it rough'," the injured boy chuckled anxiously. Then he added, still chuckling, "At least there aren't any vampires around, eh Sasuke?"

Sasuke didn't answer; he only began lighting more candles. And as the blonde looked down at his elbow to see how bad the injury was, he failed to notice as the dark haired boy lifted up his blood stained hand and licked one of the fingers slowing, closing his eyes and savoring the flavour as it trickled down his throat.

* * *

_**A/N:** You know what? I'M **SO** SORRY this took so long! :Bows in apology: I had alot going on, what with my laptop screwing up and such...still! Sorry! Hope you all fogive me! This chapter was originally going to have way more in it, but I decided I wanted to get this up as soon as possible. So TA-DA!_

_If **anything** isn't to your standards, tell me, and I'll adjust it. Okay? _

**R&R as usual! Please and I'll love you forever! Comments and ideas ALWAYS welcome!**


	10. Cloud Nine

_**A/N:** I do not own Naruto...nor Sasuke, nor Sakura, nor Gaara... Do I own anything? A keyboard...maybe. And that's a _big_ maybe._

_Enjoy._

* * *

"I'm here! I'm here!" The frantic blonde came skidding to a halt in front of one of the many metal tables that occupied the school cafeteria. Sakura looked up from the conversation she was having with a blonde girl across from her and looked up at Naruto incredulously.

" Naruto? Where have you been? …Why are you panting and sweating?"

"I'm sorry!" Naruto almost yelled, his voice echoing off the walls of the large room, stopping many people in mid-conversation to look over at him questioningly. Sakura looked around quickly and pulled Naruto down forcefully onto the seat next to her. Naruto noticed that for a small girl, she had an incredible amount of upper body strength.

"Shhhh" she whispered frantically, motioning with her hands for Naruto to lower the volume of his voice. "It's okay, really, but where were you? It's been, like, 20 minutes since you said you would meet me here!"

Naruto rested his head on the cold, metal table in front of him as he regained his breath. In his momentary silence the rest of the canteen returned to their previous conversations, the cafeteria filling with noise again. Naruto suddenly raised his head.

"Ok, well, here's the thing," he said, speaking very quickly, "The lunch bell had just rung, right, and yesterday I had been in the library researching, like, history and stuff. Hey, did you know that history is actually really, really interesting sometimes? Oh! But that's not the point! Anyway…"

Sakura stared at the blonde, wide-eyed, as he continued telling his story. Never in her life had she seen someone go from zero to 20 in such a short amount of time.

The blue-eyed boy explained that he had forgotten something in the library the day before and remembered it just when lunch started. He had gone to get this 'thing' but got into an argument with the receptionist about not running in the library. So he was stuck there until she let him off and then he ran back to the canteen, which was why he was sweating and puffing.

Naruto had put a lot of thought into this alibi. As he had been walking leisurely from the library to the cafeteria, he had been thinking up different scenarios that would get him out of trouble with Sakura. His first few ideas had involved a fire or a sudden avalanche, which he thought were equally believable, but in the end he had opted for a simpler alibi.

In reality, the panting was fake, just something Naruto decided to do on a spur of the moment when he was about to walk through the cafeteria doors. As for the sweating and the flushed appearance, those were the result of the distance – of lack there of – between him and the raven-haired boy only moments ago. He still couldn't get a grip on himself as the images had flashed in front of his eyes.

"So what did you forget that was _so_ important?" Naruto heard a voice, that was too deep to be Sakura's, say. For the first time since he had run into the canteen he acknowledged the fact that there were other people sitting at Sakura's table. Four of them of them he could already name; Ino, Shikamaru, Choji and Hinata. Ino was sitting across from Sakura, but was now across from Naruto since he had sat down, with Shikamaru on the left of her and Choji on the left of Shikamaru. Hinata was sitting on the other side of Sakura and next to Hinata was the boy who had asked the question. This boy had spiked, coffee brown hair, small brown eyes and two large red triangles tattooed on his cheeks. The boy smirked at Naruto as the blonde was examining him and Naruto distinctly saw two small fangs protruding from between his lips. Not like those of a vampire's, but more like those of a dog.

Sakura noticed the blonde's dazed look as he looked from each face to the next.

"Oh! We didn't do introductions! Everyone this is Naruto," she said, motioning towards the blonde, "I'm Sakura, as you know, this is Ino, Shikamaru, Cho—"

"Yeah, yeah, introductions over. I want to know what was so important that he made us wait to he—"

"Oh shut up, Kiba," Ino said sternly. Naruto heard the boy growl as he crossed his arms across his chest in defeat.

"Wait for what?" Naruto asked.

"For Sakura's story, of course! Are you thick?" Kiba exclaimed.

"What did you call me!"

"Calm down you two," Shikamaru said plainly, "Naruto, ignore Kiba, he's just in a bad mood because he was the only one of us who wasn't in the classroom when Sakura fainted." Kiba began mumbling under his breath. Naruto snickered and Kiba glared at him.

Suddenly Sakura let out a dry laugh. "Now I feel silly! I'm making such a huge fuss over something so little."

"'Little'? Are you joking? You got bitten by the vampire and lived to tell about it! This is _huge_ news!"

"Kiba…um…no one in this town has ever died from a vampire bite," Hinata corrected quietly. Naruto glanced at the girl and smiled at her contrasting personality to that of Kiba's. Hinata peeked over at Naruto and, seeing him looking at her, instantly turned away, blushing, which made Naruto smile even wider.

"Do you want me to tell you what happened or not, Kiba?" Sakura said firmly, which instantly made him shut his mouth as he nodded slowly.

"Well, it was three days ago," She began, "Around 8pm, so it was pretty late. I was walking home from the shops after picking up something for dinner because my mum had forgotten to go shopping earlier. Well, since it was late, I decided to take a shortcut through the park. About halfway down the path I suddenly felt very cold, even though the air was reasonably warm. I also felt like the air was heavier…denser…like it was pushing down on me. I didn't realize it, but I had slowed down my pace and I was barely moving forward at all. At this point, all the trees suddenly seemed to grow and crowd around me, I felt suffocated. I tried to reassure myself that it was all in my head, that this park was the same as it always had been, but it didn't matter what I told myself, it was still closing in on me, the space was still becoming smaller.

"Then I felt someone walking up behind me, but it wasn't like the normal feeling, not like a human feeling. It was like…someone who was there but wasn't. Someone who you could see but not touch, which had a deep, powerful aura that gripped you and held you in place. That's exactly what it did too, held me in place. I felt like it took me nearly an eternity before I finally mustered the will power to turn around and see if there was anyone behind me. There was no one there when I did, just the empty path. But still the feeling of suffocation overwhelmed me. My lungs began aching and I let out a sharp breath when I realized that I had stopped breathing for a moment…"

Naruto, who, contrasting his usual personality and short attention span, had, for once, been listening intently, suddenly recognized a familiarity in Sakura's tone, in the words that she said. He had heard them somewhere before, but he couldn't remember when…

"Although I couldn't see anyone, I knew there are someone there. I managed to turn around quickly once more, but seeing nothing, I sank to my knees in a desperate notion that maybe my sanity would be returned. But then…I felt it. I felt a body only centimeters from mine, standing behind me. The coldness increased and my whole body was now shivering, but I was uncertain as to whether it was the sudden chill or the unbelievable fear that held my body in place.

"'Why were they doing this to me? _How_ were they doing this to me? What was it that they were doing?' These were the questions running through my mind, they never stop racing. I felt that my brain was so much on edge that it would shut itself down with fear and I closed my eyes, praying someone would stop this person. I felt a hard chest push against my back and then…everything went black.

"When I woke up, it was dark and the moon was in the center of the sky above me. It seemed so beautiful, at that point, I felt that I had a sudden closeness with it and I cherished its presence. I tried moving, but it took me at least 10 minutes before I could finally pull myself off the gravel path. I don't know how I did it, but I managed to walk home. I can't remember walking there at all but when I looked up I could see my mother standing on the steps outside our house, waiting for me. She had the most worried look on her face, that look of complete desperation for closure. That look momentarily took me out of my dazed state as I saw her face light up with emotion when she began running towards me. I was only feeling normal for a minute or so though. Eventually my eyes grew heavy and I felt this huge thirst for something…bitter. Nothing in particular, just something that tasted bitter.

"After that mum took me up to my room and let me rest. I didn't wake up until very late the next day. Mum had taken care of the marks while I was asleep; putting ointment on them, putting a bandage over them, checking they weren't infected every so often…it makes me happy she did so much for me.

"And so that brings me to yesterday. I felt fine in the morning, like my normal self again. All I wanted to do was go to school and forget they entire scenario had happened.

"I was walking towards homeroom, I remember, feeling fine. Then I suddenly felt that… _chill_ again…. I remember passing someone…a boy…I remember his smell was so alluring and his presence so familiar to me. I remember my eyes clouding over and I couldn't see straight. My feet lead me the rest of the way to homeroom, like I was watching them move of their own accord from outside my body.

"That's when I walked into homeroom. And that's all I remember until I woke up in the nurses office."

Everyone was speechless. Sakura was looking down at her hands thoughtfully while the others looked at her, expecting her to say more. She did.

"There was one thing about the whole experience that has stuck with me until now though, and I don't understand why. It's such a small thought that I don't know why it's bothering me so much. I mean, here I was, trapped in a park, unable to move, with the presence of a stranger holding me down in some _supernatural_ way. And yet…"

Something suddenly dawned on Naruto…

"All I could think about…"

He knew where he had heard this, he knew who he had heard this from.

"Was that…"

Everything came crashing down and seemed so obvious…

"Their skin was so…"

"Cold," Naruto finished in a whisper, looking down at the table.

The canteen doors opened and Naruto instantly knew who it was.

"Sasuke…"

* * *

_**A/N: **Anyone up for Sakura's story? Haha! _

_Wee! Finally! I'm __so glad that I finally got this up! I'm so sorry for the wait! I'm trying to get better, but I...well, I suck, basically._

_So...What do you think? Finally some dawnation on Naruto's part! About time, eh? (Dawnation is a word, look it up. Seriously, someone look it up. I want to know what it says. Nothing? Probably nothing.)_

_**PLEASE R&R! I LOVE R&R! **They are__ my life! I am a pathetic shut in with no life who LIVES off the comments of others to better myself in my pathetic shut in life!....Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Good stuff up next, promise! (Yum yum.)_

P.s: I apologise for any typos and bad grammar. If you see any...well...ignore it :)

P.p.s: Has anyone notice the titles of the chapters have changed? No more boring numbers. Instead, **fun numbers! **It's just something I'm trying out.


	11. Up to Ten

_A/N: I do not own anything. Ever._

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It was almost midnight. Clouds were surrounding the moon making the night sky seem like nothing but swirls of gray and black. A light breeze blew through Naruto's ajar glass balcony door. The blonde watched as his curtains lifted themselves gracefully off the ground, moving like the rippling of the ocean through the air before settling back down silently. Usually watching his curtains sway at night would act as almost a hypnotic effect on Naruto, making him fall asleep within minutes. Tonight was different.

Naruto sat up in his bed slowly and pulled his knees to his chest. He hugged his legs close to his body and rested his chin on the top of his knees trying to make the amount of space he took up as small as possible.

There was an enormous and undeniable tense feeling in the pit of his stomach. It was pulling and grabbing at anything it could to make Naruto's gut feel tighter. Earlier in the day, he wasn't even able to eat his lunch or make himself dinner because his stomach felt so small. But, although he was able to identify where the feeling was coming from, he couldn't figure out what the feeling actually was.

'Was it anger?' He thought, 'Anger at the raven-haired boy for not telling him the truth, for hurting Sakura and many other people? Anger at himself for not figuring it out sooner or reading the obvious signs?

Was it sadness? The sadness of knowing that everything Sasuke did was only because he wanted a meal from him? The sad feeling of being left in the dark about something, of feeling alone?

Or was it…fear? Did he _fear_ Sasuke?'

Naruto bit down on the blanket that covered his knees in frustration and looked out his balcony widow. The clouds had cleared and Naruto could see the moon clearly. It was full that night and Naruto couldn't help but allow a small smile tickle his lips. A full moon always had a calming effect on him, it made him feel more complete than when he saw a small crescent moon.

Naruto sighed deeply. He blinked slowly, savoring the picture of the full moon under his eyelids. But the savoring was short, because when he opened his eyes, the moon had a dark silhouette in middle of it. Naruto shrieked and jumped backwards off his bed, landing on the floor painfully. He got back on his feet instantly and stared at the person standing on his balcony with an incredulous expression.

Two deep crimson eyes stared back at him, mockingly. The owner of said eyes pushed the balcony's sliding door open slowly as Naruto backed up as far as he could. The figure took a step inside the room and it was then that the blonde was able to find his voice.

"What the hell are you doing here, teme!" Naruto screamed, his lugs burning in a desperate attempt to remind the blonde to breath. Naruto knew that his voice was filled with fear, masked by only a thin layer of anger, but he didn't care. All he wanted to do was scream and yell at the raven-haired boy until his voice became hoarse.

"Shh…" Sasuke soothed, closing the glass door behind him silently, "You'll wake your neighbors."

"Shut up!" Naruto screeched again, "Just shut up! What are you doing here! How did you get up here? This is the freckin' third story!"

"I think we both know that there is a very obvious answer to that, dobe."

Naruto dug his nails into his hands, every one of his muscles burning with tension. He glared at Sasuke with an amount of hatred he had never felt before.

"Because you're a vampire," he said finally, proud with the amount of control he had on the volume of his voice.

Naruto ground his teeth together when he saw the black-haired boy smirk.

"A vampire?" the Uchiha said slowly and deeply, "Now, tell me Naruto, what would give you that idea?" Sasuke turned his head a little, the moonlight just tickling the side of his face, as he opened his mouth slightly, revealing the bottom of his now obvious pure white fangs.

"Shut up, teme," Naruto growled, trying to repress his new found feeling of mesmeration over the sight of Sasuke's fangs. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be out in the park, following some poor defenseless girl or something?"

Naruto was felt a twinge of satisfaction when he saw that his comment had a noticeable effect on the pale boy. It was subtle and short, but Naruto saw it. Sasuke sighed and moved towards Naruto's bed. He lay down with his back on the mattress, crossed his legs out long in front of him and put his hands behind his head, propping himself up on a pillow.

"I take it that you mean Sakura Haruno?"

"Well at least you know her name…" Naruto spat back.

"Dobe, you don't know much about vampires, do you?" Sasuke said, looking at the ceiling.

"No, I don't," The blonde said after a pause, "But I know enough. And until this lunchtime I didn't know you were one."

"You read comic books, right?" The pale boy asked simply and randomly.

Naruto crossed his arms and nodded, still glaring at Sasuke.

"Well, everything you've read in those books. They're lies. None of that is real."

Sasuke glanced over at Naruto who was now looking away from the red-eyed boy with an angry but puzzled look on his face.

Sasuke sat up and leant his back against the wall behind him. He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Naruto, why do you hate me so much at the moment?"

Naruto looked down at his feet. "Because…of all the things you have done against the people of this village," Naruto lied.

"And what is that, exactly? What bad have I done?"

Naruto's head snapped up and look at the vampire sitting on his bead with a sudden burst of anger. "What do you mean 'what bad have you done'? You're tormenting the people of this village! They're living in constant fear!"

"Of what?" Sasuke said coolly.

"Of YOU, teme! Of what you do! That's what the hell they're afraid of! No one goes out at night out of fear of being bitten! Of their blood being taken away from them!"

"And what's so bad about being bitten?"

Naruto stopped with his mouth agape. He suddenly remembered listening to Sakura's story and remembered how she was telling it. Not with fear or hatred, but with acceptance. Naruto realized that, after you were bitten, nothing happened, that was it. You were bitten, you rested for a couple of days, and you were better. He realized that it wasn't too different than a cold that kept you in bed.

"Nothing…" Naruto replied slowly, his eyebrows furrowing together in confusion.

"New blood is made in your body everyday, Naruto. I don't take very much of it, but it still strains the system a little. Your friend Sakura happened to be one of the worse case scenarios. I hadn't drunk in a while and I was in desperate need of some nutrition. I'm sorry for what happened to her." Sasuke got off the bed on the same side as Naruto and the blonde watched in disbelief as the slim boy bowed slowly in apology.

Naruto pushed himself against the cold wall behind him in a desperate attempt to get further away from the Uchiha. Naruto felt a huge wave of anxiety wash over him as he watched the boy in front of him intently. He was so confused; both with this teen's behaviour and with the feelings that were rushing through him. Fear mixed with longing, two feelings that very rarely worked well together.

This was not how he had imagined this conversation would go.

"B-but, even so," The blonde spluttered finally, "I still hate you."

Sasuke straightened up again, but kept his eye half-lidded and looking away from the tanned boy. Naruto saw, even though it was only through a small gap between Sasuke's eyelids, that the boys' eyes were now shining an almost luminous red; a red so deep and bright that Naruto felt Sasuke would bathe the entire room in a deep, crimson light if he were to look up.

"Because I'm a 'monster'?" Sasuke asked in monotone, still looking away.

"No, teme," Naruto replied stubbornly, "As long as you're not actually hurting anyone then I couldn't care less what you are or aren't. I'm talking about what you did…to me."

Naruto finished his sentence and realized how selfish this statement sounded. Although it was true that Sasuke wasn't hurting anyone, he was still striking fear into the hearts of hundreds in this village, and Naruto knew that that should bother him. But it didn't. At this moment, Naruto felt only a longing to have his own selfish thoughts heard.

"I just…I don't understand…" Naruto started, after hearing no retort from the boy but seeing the pale boy's eyebrows rise slightly. "What…what the hell was all that?" Naruto said sharply, his anger suddenly rising again. "Around the corridors at school, in the classroom…in the library. Why were you doing that to me?"

Naruto took in a sharp breath, "What was that? Do you get some sort of kick out of that? Do you do that to everyone you have an interest in biting? Was it all some sort of sick joke to you, toying with me like that? I should have realized it! I'm such an idiot! But…but you should have at least told me that all along you were just playing with me so you could use me as your meal ticket later! You should have warned me!"

Naruto was standing defensively now, his hands clenched into fist by his sides, his shoulders tense and straight, and his eyes narrow and determined. His chest was rising and falling at a rapid rate, and he could hear his heart beat pumping blood around his body.

A moment passed, and another, and finally Naruto relaxed his stance, drained emotionally, and looked down sadly at his clenched fist. He'd said the truth out loud, but now it stung more than he thought it would.

Naruto snapped his head up when he heard a deep, smooth chuckle from in front of him. Sasuke looked Naruto straight in the eye; the intense crimson shone deeply from his pale face and, through Naruto's eyes, seemed to dance wildly in colour and luminance. "Dobe," He breathed, "I don't play with my food."

Suddenly, Naruto was pressed firmly against the wall and, without warning, cold, soft lips descended roughly on his own. Naruto's mind took only a moment to react this time; his adrenaline taking over almost immediately after Sasuke had uttered the word 'food'. All other thoughts became meaningless; his entire consciousness was concentrated on one thing; getting away from Uchiha Sasuke.

He began struggling under the weight of Sasuke's body, twisting and moving in different directions, trying to scamper free from the grip. He tried to turn his head away from the raven-haired boy, moaning and whining sounds erupting from his throat, but the pressure on his mouth was too much and it held him in place. Naruto could feel anxiety and terror striking him as he thought there was no way to escape from the pale boy's grip. Finally, in a last effort to free himself, he lifted his left foot and brought it down on the Uchiha's, all his body weight following. This granted a gap in Sasuke's ferocious kissing as the pale boy flinched a little – in surprise, it seemed, rather than in pain. It was only a small break, but it was all Naruto needed. As soon as the kiss was broken, the blonde boy turned himself roughly to the left and elbowed the Uchiha hard in the ribs. The vampire took a small step back from the power of the impact and Naruto quickly ducked around the red-eyed boy and sprinted out of his bedroom, through his kitchen and out into the hallway of the third storey. His heart raced and skipped as he raced down the six flights of stairs, almost tripping numerous times. He glanced behind him as he neared the last step and felt some relief when he saw that he wasn't being followed.

He pushed open the front door of the building forcefully and ran out onto the paved walkway that lead out onto the street. A strong gush of cold autumn air hit him with a force he wasn't prepared for. The air pricked his skin and stung his eyes as his body tried to adjust to the sudden temperature change. Goosebumps rose on his arms and he automatically began shivering. Naruto, breathing heavily and trying tto ignore the cold, looked around desperately, trying to find a place to go, a place that he might be able to run to.

"Boo."

The blonde screamed and jumped a little away from the voice. He immediately turned around, looking for the Uchiha who had just whispered in his ear, but he saw nothing. Naruto's muscles all tensed, both from the cold and from terror and adrenaline, and his neck began to ache from his excessive head turning as he desperately searched for the pale boy.

"Behind you."

Naruto turned around rapidly in panic and saw deep, blood-coloured eyes staring at him from the end of the walkway.

"Leave me the hell alone!" Naruto screeched. He had taken a step back as a reflex but recovered quickly and turned to the right, sprinting towards the small stonewall that surrounded the apartment block. He jumped over it effortlessly and dashed across his neighbors yard and out their gate onto the empty street, where he had a clear path in front of him. He knew that that Uchiha was following him, but whether it was just with his eyes or with his actual being, Naruto was oblivious.

The blonde's legs began to ache and groan as he continued running and he began to slow down his pace. He glanced behind him and, although he couldn't see the vampire, he knew that Sasuke was very close. Naruto was running out of energy fast and he needed to get out of the open. He glanced around quickly and took a simultaneous left turn, onto a stone path that led through a large group of trees. Only after another 20 seconds of sprinting did Naruto realize his mistake.

He stopped immediately and put his arms up defensively, his hands balled into fists. He looked quickly around him and suddenly felt very closed in as he looked up at all the tall oak trees that stood around him menacingly. Naruto began hyperventilating as he looked up at all the trees and backed up into one of their large trunks, sliding down its firm structure.

Naruto began shaking as the cold night air hit him once again. He managed to calm his rapid breathing pattern down as he looked up through the empty branches of the trees and into the moonlight sky.

Why did he run all the way to the park? In fact, why did he run at all? A moment before they had begun discussing 'food' he had already discovered that a bite does nothing more to you than a couple of days off school. So, why was Sasuke still so terrifying?

"No…" Naruto breathed, his teeth beginning to chatter, "It's not that."

"It's not what, dobe?"

Naruto had been well aware of the pale boys presence for a few moments before the teen had spoken so he decided not to react. Instead, he slowly brought his head down and glanced at the Uchiha who was kneeling in front of him. And almost immediately after he looked down to the many crumbled leaves on the ground to avoid the Uchiha's eyes.

"You run really fast, you know that? I almost had difficulty keeping up." Sasuke said lightly and when Naruto still didn't acknowledge him talking he asked his question again, this time slower and sterner. "It's not what?"

"Nothing," Naruto sighed, "It's not anything, that's what it's not."

"Liar," the Uchiha said simply.

"Like you have any right to call _me_ a liar, teme."

"I've never lied."

Naruto paused for a moment in disbelieve, "You're kidding me, right?"

"No."

"You never told me that you were a vampire, there's one lie."

"You never asked."

"Oh shut up…" Naruto said, finally drained completely. "I was just thinking out loud, it really doesn't matter. Not anymore."

Naruto took a deep breath and finally looked Sasuke straight in the eye. The Uchiha's eyes were now shinning so brightly that they seemed to rival the glow of the very moon that Naruto had just been looking at. Naruto tilted his head to the side.

"I give up," Sasuke narrowed his eyes at the blonde's words. "Bite me. Just get it over with."

Sasuke hesitated for only a moment before he began slowly crawling towards Naruto. He stopped only when his lips were mere millimeters away from the shivering, tanned skin of the blonde's neck.

Sasuke breathed in deeply once before bringing his lips to Naruto's ear.

"Before," he whispered smoothly, "I said that I don't play with my food. So tell me, usuratonkashi…what does it mean if I'm 'playing' with you?"

Naruto wasn't listening. All he did was whisper simply.

"Just bite me."

So Sasuke did.

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_A/N: Did I do good? __I'd like to know! :)  
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_I owe a hug to all of you who have R&R'd and faved so far!! I love you all!! You make me so happy! I also owe you all __another hug for putting up with my lack of uploading...you know...quickly.  
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_I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Naruto is bitten!! Yes! But this story is **far** from over! (R&R as usual! Please! And I'll love you forever! I like hearing your comments on how I can better myself...either that or compliments are good too! Haha! Jks, I like it when people insult me too, so I can have a good laugh ;) )_


	12. One and One is Eleven

_**A/N:** I do not own Naruto, or any components of Naruto, or any anime of Naruto, or any manga of Naruto, or any characters from Naruto, or any fan art of Naruto...Or Kishimoto..._

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Naruto awoke feeling nothing but a strange numbness. His eyelids felt heavy as they remained closed over his eyes, feeling like they were being weighed down by cement. Instead of fighting the weighing feeling and attempting to open his eyes, he kept them closed as the numbness began to recede and he began to feel again. He could feel a firmly cushioned surface under his body and a light, soft covering over the top. His head was slightly more elevated than the rest of his body and was resting back on something comfortable. Naruto inhaled deeply, and as he did he smelt an unmistakable fragrance wafting through the air.

"Lilacs?" he thought dozily, "I don't have any lilacs in my apartment..."

Naruto finally tried to open his eyes but they refused to open, as though something were gluing them together. After two more attempts he finally managed to peel his eyes apart and squint through the gaps, but found himself overcome with the feeling of fatigue and he closed them again. He flopped his head to the right lazily and winced as he felt a sudden pain shoot through the side of his neck. The pain forced him to immediately open his eyes as he remembered what had happened.

As much as he wanted to jump up, find Sasuke, and pound the living day lights out of the vampire for making him feel that irritatingly enormous amount of fear, his will power could only do so much. In reality, the amount of energy he had was rival only to that of a sedated patient going into surgery. So all he did was lay there.

The notion that he wasn't in his own apartment finally dawned on him, but his body was too tired to react, so, instead, he examined the room through tired eyes as he lay there. He saw that he was in a small, dark room, its walls all painted in a deep midnight blue. The walls were bare except for a window, covered by black drapes, on the wall behind his head, a beautifully carved wooden door on the wall furthest from him on his right and a small, oval mirror hanging on the wall directly across the room from the window.

A bookcase stood tall next to the door and a large, navy blue armchair sat next to the bookshelf. The Uzumaki managed to lift his head up to see what he was lying on. He had originally thought that it was a bed, but saw now that it was actually a pullout mattress that came out of a large couch, its colour matching that of the armchair. Naruto put his head back on the pillow, his neck muscles aching from their short physical exertion, and look up at the roof. Immediately he noticed that the roof was bare, but not in the same fashion most roofs were. This roof had no light in the ceiling, not even a ceiling fan or a skylight. Naruto wondered how a room that had little to no light coming in – since the window was covered – how he could see so clearly.

At this point Naruto rolled his head to look to the right again as he heard the door beginning to open. A small sliver of light came into the room, followed quickly by the door opening until Naruto could see a silhouette standing in the doorway. As his eyes adjusted he could see black hair falling over pale skin, a slender, masculine body and bottomless red eyes.

"Sasuke..." Naruto had meant to say it sternly but his throat felt so dry and tired that it came out a hoarse, almost inaudible, whisper. Somehow though, the visitor heard it and looked at the Uzumaki.

"Do we really look that much alike?" The Sasuke look-a-like chuckled. As the figure approached Naruto, the blue-eyed boy could see that this man, although he looked uncannily like Sasuke, was not him. He looked older than Sasuke, probably in his twenties, and had a deep line under each of his eyes. His hair was parted in the middle at the front, much like Sasuke's, but at the back it was straighter, longer and pulled into a loose ponytail. Naruto found himself looking at the man longer than what was usually classified as polite. This man was undeniably beautiful.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake, Naruto," the man said with a smile, "I can call you Naruto, right?"

The Uzumaki looked at him for a second before attempting a small nod. The man smiled again gently and adjusted the pillow under Naruto's head.

"Don't move too much, you only just woke up."

"Who are you?" Naruto asked in a whisper, "Where am I? What am I doing here?" He stopped then added, "Why do you look so much like Sasuke?"

The man brought the armchair next to the couch and sat down, still smiling pleasantly.

"My name is Uchiha Itachi, and I probably look like Sasuke because I'm his older brother."

"I didn't know Sasuke had a brother," Naruto whispered, trying to keep his eyes open. Although Naruto didn't feel tired inside his mind, his body refused to acknowledge that he wanted to stay awake.

"Well, that's not surprising," Itachi chuckled again – a very deep, infectious chuckle, "he doesn't talk about me much. I'm right up there with talking about us being vampires."

Naruto managed to get his eyes to stay open after that statement. "So...you're also...?"

Itachi nodded, "Yep, a vampire. Guilty as charged. But keep it under your belt, _some_ people in this village don't like our kind," he said jokingly.

Naruto definitely felt the big brother vibe off this Uchiha and, unlike with Sasuke, who only brought confusion, Naruto felt completely comfortable talking with this man.

"So, where..."

"Are you?" Itachi finished, "You're in our house, of course! Where else? Welcome to our home." He said cheerily.

"Okay...your house...but what am I doing here?" Naruto heard his voice popping in and out of his sentence. It reminded him of when he first went into puberty. He didn't like it.

Itachi regarded Naruto calmly, "You remember what happened in the park, right?"

'In the park.' Naruto remember everything. When he slid down the tree and saw the Uchiha approach him, when Sasuke crouched in front of him and brought his face closer and closer to Naruto's neck, when Naruto's heart began racing faster as the boy had whispered in his ear. But mostly he remembered the bite. The swift, piercing teeth pressing into the muscles and veins in his neck and also the bite that he himself did to his own bottom lip to stop himself from crying out from the pain as the vampire began to suck and suck the blood from his body. He remembered his body going limp and tired and his mind going blank as he heard his blood leaving his body. And finally he remembered the darkness and the nothingness just before he fell into a sudden sleep.

Naruto managed to summon the needed strength to nod slowly at Itachi.

"Well, after that, Sasuke carried you back here and you've been here since then."

"Why did he carry me here? Why not just leave me in the park?" Naruto wondered out loud.

"He wouldn't just leave you in the park! It was freezing there! It's almost winter!" Itachi seemed to be smiling at Naruto question in a disbelieving manner.

Naruto looked straight at Itachi and raised an eyebrow, as if to say, "Who are you kidding?"

The Uchiha let out a slow laugh. "Look, I know Sasuke doesn't seem like that nice a guy, but really, he would never do anything like that."

Naruto rolled his eyes in denial. "Where is Sasuke anyway?" His voice was almost back.

Itachi looked at his watch. "It's about 2:30 in the afternoon so he'd still be at school."

"Oh," Naruto whispered, "Okay." He felt somehow disappointed. Itachi had said that Sasuke brought him to his house so he wouldn't be left in the park, and yet Sasuke had still gone to school the next day like it was nothing? It shouldn't bother him; it sounded like something that Sasuke would do. But Naruto still felt like Sasuke should maybe take responsibility for making him immobile. Either that or Naruto just wanted to see him, not that he would admit it.

"About Sasuke," Itachi said, as though he were reading Naruto's thoughts, "He did wait for you to wake up, don't get him wrong. But after the fourth day, he thought that—"

"Four days?" Naruto yelled as he sat up in bed suddenly. He instantly felt a dizzy spell roll over him and he had to collapse back onto the bed and close his eyes.

"Don't move so suddenly," Itachi said calmly, "Your body isn't ready for it yet."

"Have I really been here for four days?" Naruto asked quietly and even though his eyes remained closed, he could tell that Itachi was nodding.

"Yes, it has. And what a four days it has been!" Itachi exclaimed delightedly. "I've never seen Sasuke so obedient to one person! What a site it was! Him watching you, constantly making sure you were alright. It's times like those I wish Sasuke would be in a photo!" Itachi chuckled lightly, leaning back in his chair. Itachi looked down at Naruto and saw that the tanned boy was finally making eye contact with him.

"It's true," Itachi said simply, understanding the questioning look in Naruto's eyes. "He didn't leave your side until I told him he had to go to school. Forgive me for that, but the school might have found it a little shady if you were both away for such a long time. And don't worry; Sasuke took care of your absences too. He even forged you a doctor's note. Can you imagine that?"

Naruto had managed to push the bottom half of his face under the cover that lay on top of him. And under the cover, he couldn't help but smile in spite of himself.

"Get some more sleep," Itachi said. He was already at the door and the chair was back in its place. Naruto didn't think it was possible for someone to move that fast. The he mentally slapped himself for forgetting about the whole "vampire" thing.

Itachi closed the door gently and Naruto couldn't help but close his eyes, slowly drifting off into sleep.

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Naruto woke up some time later, feeling unbelievable hot. He could feel his forehead drenched with sweat, sticking his hair to his face and neck. His body felt suffocated under the blanket as it stuck to his body uncomfortably. His body felt like it was burning and the heat was becoming unbearable. Without thinking, Naruto lifted his legs up, kicking the blanket off him. After lying still for a moment, feeling relief as the cold air hit his body, he realised that he had moved. He opened his eyes, sat up and, although he felt unusually stiff, he was no longer immobile. He looked down at his hands just as a familiar chuckle wafted through the air.

Naruto snapped his head to the right and, although the room was darker than before, he could make out the silhouette of an individual leaning against the closed door. He saw the crimson eyes, he saw the pale skin and, overall, he saw the naturally spiked up hair. This time he knew it was Sasuke.

"Throwing off your covers and _presenting_ yourself to me, dobe? If I knew I would get _that_ reaction out of you I wouldn't have gone to school today." Sasuke said, his voice not wavering for a moment. He began walking towards the tanned boy and Naruto merely glared at the Uchiha before turning his head and looking straight ahead of him. He brought his knees up and hugged them against his chest.

Sasuke sat on the end of Naruto's bed and kept his eyes on the Uzumaki.

"How are you feeling?" Sasuke asked finally. His eyes remained on the blue-eyed boy. However Naruto refused to make eye contact with him and didn't answer.

"Dobe," Sasuke said sternly, "Tell me how you're feeling." Sasuke demanded.

"Stiff," Naruto grumbled, "And it's all your fault."

"It's all _my _fault you're _stiff_, huh?" Sasuke chuckled, amused by the statement "I'm sure I could fix that problem," He said slowly, leaning towards the oblivious boy.

Naruto lifted an eyebrow and risked a glance over at the pale boy. "What are you talking abou---EW! You pervert! I didn't it mean like that!" Naruto backed up as far as he could go, until he was sitting on top of the arm of the couch.

Unfortunately, he was only sitting there for a moment, before Sasuke made a mock gesture like he was going to grab the tanned boy and Naruto, startled by the sudden movement, fell off the arm of the navy blue couch onto the hard, wood floor.

Naruto lay on the floor for a few minutes, moaning about the pain in his back before shouting, "Sasuke! Stop hurting me, you sadist! This is, like, the second time you've made me fall on the floor!" Naruto sat up and leant his aching back against the wall that was about half a meter behind him. He leant the back of his head against the cool surface and opened his eyes to see Sasuke leaning over the arm of the couch, smirking at the blonde.

"Only the second time? You must have bashed your head. If I recall correctly, it's been more like five times. Or did our little rendezvous in the library mean nothing to you?" Sasuke mocked.

"I think that the question is more 'did they mean anything to _you_?'" Naruto retorted, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Are you suddenly insecure, dobe? Do we need to go to marriage counseling?"

"We're not married, teme." Naruto said, trying not to give the dark-haired boy any thing that he could use against him.

"You're right," Sasuke said, faking a sad emotion, " I don't think the undead are allowed to get married here. Maybe in Vegas…"

"Now you're just babbling on about nothing, Uchiha."

"Wow, last names. I'm scared now."

"Oh, shut up."

"U…zu…ma…ki."

"That's it! I'm leaving!" Naruto got up with a speed he didn't know he had and began striding towards the door. He'd reached the doorknob when he heard a hand hit the door on either side of his head. Naruto glanced over his shoulder and said, quickly, "Let me leave, Sasuke. I'm not going to sit in this room and argue with you about pointless things. Either you tell me what I want to know, or I'm going home."

"I wouldn't advise going home just yet, Naruto." Sasuke whispered in Naruto's ear. Naruto shivered involuntarily and snapped his head forward again, biting his lip. He blamed his bodies reactions on the fact that he'd had no human contact for four days.

"Why," He asked, tightening his grip on the doorknob in embarrassment as his voice cracked. He coughed and continued," Why can't I leave? What's so great about your house anyway, you snob."

Sasuke grab the tanned boy by his shoulders and turned him around to face him. Holding blue-eyed boy against the wall firmly, Sasuke stared at him through deep, crimson eyes. His eyes held not hatred, no sadness, no sarcasm. They held only acknowledgment and Naruto, seeing this, felt self-conscious and looked away as the black-haired boy continued to look at him.

After a few moments, Sasuke finally let of a sharp exhale, as if snapping out a trance. He let go of Naruto's shoulders, "My house is _actually_ the best thing in the world dobe, and don't you forget it."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Sasuke, you have mood swings worse than a pregnant woman. Do you know that?"

"I do. Did you know that you Pythagoras' Theorem is used on triangles?"

"This isn't a pop quiz, teme."

"Pop quiz? I was playing 20 questions."

"Well you suck at it. Now sit down and answer my questions_._"

"Fine," Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Oh. But one more thing…" And, without having time to react, Sasuke's perfectly pale lips came down on Naruto's surprised, tanned ones gently. Goosebumps ran all over Naruto's body at the sudden rush of adrenaline he got from Sasuke touch. The tanned boy couldn't help but close his eyes and lean into the kiss, holding onto the front of Sasuke blouse to stop his hands from shaking with excitement. Sasuke placed his soft, ivory hands on either side of Naruto's face, pulling him closer. Naruto wanted more. But suddenly, his common sense pulled him back to reality and finally his anger at the boy took over once again. He broke the kiss abruptly and took a small step back.

"No," He said firmly, "No, no, no. No distracting me! I want answers, and I want them now!"

Sasuke folded his arms over his chest and shrugged, "Fine," and within the time it took Naruto to blink once, Sasuke had taken a step forward, brought his lips in front of Naruto's, and had lightly bitten the stunned boy's bottom lip before sitting back on Naruto's custom made bed. "Whatever you say."

Naruto wiped his lips on the back of his hand vigorously and sat down in the armchair, which was opposite Sasuke.

"Oh," Sasuke started, "By the way," Naruto glared at him. Sasuke was playing on his last nerve with his excessive interrupting. "What's that look for? All I was going to say was that I love you as a brunette." Sasuke finished with a smirk and half-lidded eyes.

It took a few moments for Naruto to register what he had just heard. "What?" He finally said. "…What, what…what! Brunette? What are you talking about? I'm blonde, crazy colour-blind boy! Look!" Naruto grabbed a lock of his rough, spiked hair and pulled it down in front of his eyes. He examined it closely and let out a sudden shriek, not unlike that of a girls, when he saw the darkness of his hair.

Sasuke was telling the truth, his hair was no longer the bright, golden blonde that shone in the sun. It was now a light, chocolate brown that made Naruto feel uneasy just from looking at it.

Naruto remembered the mirror that hung on the wall in this room. He bolted over to it and gazed into its clean, reflective surface. He stood there, motionless for almost two minutes before turning to Sasuke slowly with a look of horror and confusion on his face.

"Sasuke?" he breathed out slowly, "What happened to my reflection?"

Sasuke leant back against the couch, his eyes closed and his mouth set in an uncaring straight line.

"I guess it's time," The red eyed boy said, seemingly emotionless, "that I told you about the side effects of _becoming a vampire_."

* * *

_A/N: Time to bore you all with the reason I haven't uploaded sooner! Woo! Okay, here is what happened, and I know a lot of people say this, but in my case it's true; There were these big nosed monkeys, okay? And they were just everywhere! And so I had to go call a monkey exterminator and..._

_Dude, school sucks. That's all it is to it. Seven assignments! _SEVEN_! What is this world coming to?_

_But, either way, I'm sorry :( I wish I were a better person to you all. Especially those wo have R&R'd! Wow! I love you!...Oh! And speaking of which, there are two things I want to say that are relevant._

_1. The first half of this story is dedicated to "_Sasukez_" who has given me awsum reviews every time and I'm loving her for it!! Thank you so much! So, just for you, I put in Itachi! I hope you liked how I made him (heh heh heh) 3  
_

_2. Would anyone like to be my proof reader? You can read it before anyone and correct it and tell me your opinions? lol. Just asking! (I'm too lazyto proof read...btw, spelling and grammar probably suck in this, sorry...I just wanted to get it up _so_ badly!)  
_

_Anyway! R&R makes me write!! I love you all for liking my story! I'll try to improve for you all!  
_


	13. Twelve Midnight

_**A/N**: I do not own Naruto or his gorgeous, gorgeous body._

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"Dobe, stop squirming."

"But it stings!"

"Stop being a wuss. You're the one who wanted to bleach your hair."

"You could have told me that bleach stings your skin and smells this bad, teme!"

"Do I look like I've ever bleached my hair, usuratonkashi?"

Naruto crossed his arms over is chest stubbornly and shifted uncomfortably in the small wooden chair. He looked in the mirror of the small, clean bathroom, expecting to see his reflection. Instead he was met with nothing but the back of the mahogany chair and the tiled wall behind him. He slumped his head down a little in depression, looking at his bare feet on the cold, stone floor only to have his hair pulled painfully and his head snapped back into the position it was in before.

"I thought I told you to stop moving. Now stay still, I'm almost done."

Naruto pouted but did as he was told and kept his head in place. He closed his eyes though, unable to look at the blank mirror.

"Can you smell it?" The sticky haired boy asked randomly.

"Not at the moment. But I could if I wanted to."

"What do you mean?" Naruto asked impatiently, getting frustrated with Sasuke's lack of detail. "You said you'd explain everything. Explain now, while I'm bored and restless in your stupid chair."

Sasuke pushed his fingers into Naruto's scalp, massaging gently, before saying, "If you didn't have this crap in your hair then I'm sure I could think of something that would make you feel…tired."Naruto could feel Sasuke's smirk and rolled his eyes, "You are the pervert of all perverts."

"Is that anything like the King of perverts? No, no, that's not me. I've met him though, he's pretty nice. Have you ever heard of him? Name's Sai, or something. He has a _very_ nice midriff." Sasuke replied, undoubtedly too amused with the entire conversation. Naruto elbowed Sasuke in the thigh from his position in front of the dark haired boy.

"I'm serious Sasuke, talk. Or I'll shove my hair in your face."

"Fine. What do you want me to start with?" Sasuke said, his voice oozing with a sudden sense of boredom.

"Oh, I don't know. How about we start with 'Why is my hair brown'!" using his own sense of sarcasm as a retort against Sasuke's bored tone.

"_Was,_ " Sasuke corrected. "Why _was_ your hair brown. It's more of a white-blue colour at the moment."

Naruto elbowed Sasuke again. Sasuke kneed Naruto in the back in reply.

"The hair thing is a side effect that happens for a number of reasons. Mainly, it's because of genetics. Notice how my brother and I both have brown hair? Genetics, obviously. When I bit you I injected you with a small amount of poison that alters your DNA a fraction. But only enough to alter certain simple physical features."

Naruto was tapping his finger nervously on his thigh as he listened but he stopped for a moment when he interrupted Sasuke's explanation.

"What's even the point of that?" Naruto asked, tilting his head to the side in habit as confusion dawned on his features.

"The point," the pale boy replied, slightly irritated but the tone in Naruto's voice "Is to keep the Uchiha genetics alive."

When Naruto didn't interject with pointless questions and remained silent, the Uchiha continued, talking slowly.

"Every member of the Uchiha family has only enough poison in their body to inject one person. Meaning, they can only change one person into a vampire their entire existence. So they have to choose whom they convert very carefully and not waste it. And do you know how we choose, Uzumaki?"

Naruto shook his head and this time Sasuke didn't pull his hair in protest of the movement.

"Soul mates. In my family, if you see the person you're supposed to stay with, then you feel it. You can tell immediately. And whoever we feel is that person, we will do nothing to get them, stop at nothing. I've known a fair few of my relatives that have broken up relationships, kidnapped or killed others just to get their mate. But often it doesn't come to that, because my whole family is incredibly good looking and charming by nature."

Naruto hadn't moved since he had shook his head before and now he blinked for the first time in five minutes. A small smirk pulled at the side of mouth.

"Soul mates? Are you serious?" Naruto looked over the towel on his shoulder at Sasuke, who was looking at the top of Naruto's head blankly. Sasuke nodded and Naruto turned around to look at the blank mirror again before saying bluntly, "That is possibly the corniest thing I have ever heard in my life!" And he started chuckling quietly to himself, in spite of Sasuke tighter grip on his bleaching locks.

"Shut up, usuratonkashi," Sasuke growled, "Don't forget who's the one holding the fate of your hair in their hands."

"Ok, ok," Naruto said breathlessly, trying to compose himself. He was silent for a full minute before he couldn't hold it in anymore and began laughing so uncontrollably that he fell off his chair, hitting the stone floor with a loud thump that echoed through the little room.

Sasuke glared at the boy and Naruto grinned up at Sasuke, eyes closed. By the time Naruto had opened him azure eyes, he was met with deep, red ones less than 2 inches away.

"You can do your own hair, dobe." Sasuke whispered deeply, unamused. Naruto felt a small nip on the side of his neck and then Sasuke was at the door. Naruto, confused, slowly lifter his hand to his neck and then brought it in front of him. He furrowed his eyebrows at the small amount of blood that lay in his palm.

"Hurry up and wash that stuff out," Sasuke said emotionlessly, "If you leave it in any longer it will turn orange." Sasuke turned around to walk out of the room but stopped abruptly and turned back to Naruto slowly.

"Oh," he said, in mock realisation, "and once you're done, hurry back out here. I'm thirsty." And with that Sasuke closed the slowly behind him.

A few moments passed and Naruto was still planted firmly on the floor. When he finally shook off his shock at what Sasuke had just said and tried to stand up, he felt very unstable. He felt weak in the knees and had to hold onto the small wooden chair for balance. As he fully composed himself, he caught a glimpse of something in the mirror and stood up straight in curiosity.

Right in the spot where the reflection of his neck should have been, Naruto could see blood. The flowing, pulsing, dark crimson fluid that was running down the side of Naruto's neck and gliding over the curve of his collar bone, Naruto could see it, glistening, beautiful. So even though Naruto couldn't see his own face, he could see his blood, and somehow, that felt more important.

He didn't understand why, but it was.

_._

_TBC  
_

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_**A/N:** I know, I know! It's short! Don't kill me! This is just a "Hello, I'm alive, so shh now" entry, ah ha!_

_It's taking me MUCH too long to write a chapter but, those are the breaks for quality! Okay, actually, I'm lying. Truth: Sims 3 came out. Played it, got bored, etc...and then I was like "omigosh! How could I betray my readers?" and I wrote this, hoping to please you!_

_Also, I got __alot of feedback on Naruto's hair! Wow! I wasn't expecting people to react so strongly to it! Haha! So this was a treat to you all. I was planning to change his hair back eventually. But now I did it sooner, rather than later. Hope it's to your standards._

_R&R is always appreciated! You don't know HOW happy I was to get those reviews! (Very.) I was smiley, smiley for AGES in happiness! Love you all!_

_**P.S:** Okay, I wasn't expecting anyone to mention on the "proof reader" thing, but I got two! Wow! But now I don't know who or how to pick! (Or if you guys have the time, I don't want to impose or anything...) So _XXnaruto rocksXX_ and _KatanaPrincess_...any ideas? Haha...I'm hopeless..._

_Hope you enjoyed this chappy!  
_


	14. Lucky Thirteen

_**A/N:** I do not own Naruto or anyone associated with him. I know. Surprise surprise, right?_

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Ecstasy. That's what the blonde haired boy felt; an incredible sense of ecstasy. Pulsing and running through him, gripping at his heart and blurring his vision. He could hear nothing but his blood pounding and pumping through his veins and his chest heaving uncontrollably. He could feel nothing but his consciousness fading, his blood thinning and the chilling shivers that were shooting up the right side of his body to his neck. He closed his eyes, anticipating the worst but hoping for the best. He sighed deeply and slumped heavily into the teeth that were plunged into his neck. The cold, wet lips pushed softly against his skin and Naruto felt that some form of affection was passing through them into his body. They were calming him, comforting him, controlling him.

This sensation had come quickly and unexpectedly as Naruto had been exiting the bathroom. He had been able to see the light from the bathroom still shining through the doorway as he stepped into the room he had previously been asleep in. As the door had slowly closed behind him, he had lifted a soft white towel to his head and begun drying his newly bleached hair roughly. But as soon as the door had shut completely, darkness had enveloped the room, and Sasuke had begun his feeding.

Naruto could feel the towel still in his left hand, it slowly slipping away as his grasp loosened more and more the longer the raven-haired boy remained attached to his neck. Naruto's knees were beginning to give out beneath him, unable to withstand his weight, and he began dropping slowly to the ground. But the Uchiha held him up. Both of Sasuke's pale, delicate hands pressed against either side of the blonde's waist, before slinking slowly around the front of Naruto's stomach and tightening in an embrace.

Naruto couldn't move, and he didn't want to. A light-headed, happy, and euphoric feeling was racing through his veins. Each pulse of his blood and each suck of the Uchiha mouth made the feeling stronger. He was blacking out now, but he didn't care. The less he saw, the more he felt. He could feel Sasuke's cool skin pressing against his back and stomach, even through the fabric of their clothes. He could feel every tickle of the Uchiha's hair against his neck. And finally, he could feel the boy's soft, demanding lips pushing closer and closer to his skin, trying to get as close as physically possible.

Naruto felt Sasuke tighten his grip as he took another swig of his blood. The blonde could feel his consciousness fading and his mind losing track of all that was reality. Slowly but surely, he could feel himself dying…

"Sasuke!" The blonde heard. The shout seemed so far away to Naruto's ears, almost as soft as a whisper.

"Stop it, Sasuke! Get off him now!" The sound was a little louder now, and Naruto recognised it as the sound of a male's voice. The pulsing in his neck had decreased, but he could still feel Sasuke as close as ever, his teeth still sinking deeply into his skin.

Then suddenly, Naruto felt a powerful gush of wind pass next to his face, followed by a deafening smack right next to his right ear. Naruto imagined that if he had been able to hear properly the noise would have left a long ringing sensation inside his skull. Immediately after the sound had exploded, Sasuke's presence was gone from behind the blonde and he instantaneously dropped to the floor, hitting the ground with a loud thump. Naruto felt nothing as he hit the floor, but as he lay there, he suddenly began gasping for breath and coughing abruptly. His breathing was deep and wheezing, like the gasps one would hear from an asthma patient. Naruto lay on the soft carpet of the floor, panting and shivering, and he tried to open his eyes. They were so heavy that the blonde could only manage to open his eyes a sliver, and keeping them open was tortuous. Through the blurred vision of his almost completely lidded eyes, Naruto could make out a blurred silhouette of a taller man holding Sasuke by the front collar of his shirt. Sasuke's feet were almost 3 inches off the floor.

"What the hell were you doing, Sasuke!" Itachi yelled furiously, his voice thunderous in the small room. "What were you trying to do? Were you trying to fucking kill the boy?"

Sasuke was saying nothing; only hanging there un-moving with his face turned opposite to where Naruto was. The blonde's eyes began closing again under the strain of his blood loss. Naruto cursed his inability to stay awake and forced himself to keep his eyes open.

"Look at me, little brother!" Itachi spat, bringing up his free hand to turn Sasuke's face towards his own. "Do you not understand what you could have done to him? What happened to you? I though you had self-control! If I knew you lacked it, I would have never left you alone with him!"

"Shut up, Itachi! He's already changed!" Sasuke finally yelled back, Naruto could faintly see his knuckles turning a brighter shade of white as they came up and clutched his brother's forearms. "He can't die anymore!"

"Are you kidding me, Sasuke? You know as well as I do that he can still fucking die! He's only started to change! It's only been one day, you idiot!" Itachi's voice was deep and terrifying, and laced with the sound of authority. "You lost control, admit it! I know that you know the rules about conversions, I've watched you read every book we have on them! You just lost control and in doing so you almost took a life! Did you hear me Sasuke? A **life**!"

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke screeched.

The yelling seized. Nothing could be heard but Naruto's continuous panting as he lay on the floor, slipping in and out of consciousness. Both of the dark haired boys looked down at Naruto in unison, as though they finally acknowledged the condition he was in. The blonde knew that he wouldn't be able to stay awake for much longer.

He kept his eyes open long enough to see Itachi take in a deep breath before throwing Sasuke suddenly and roughly against a wall. Naruto's eyes managed to open a fraction more as he watched Sasuke hit the wall at an unbelievable force. His back hit first and his head was thrown back into the hard, wood surface. A look of grimace covered Sasuke's features. He slumped to the ground slowly and slouched on the floor, remaining there. After a few moments, the raven-haired boy slowly lifted his head and, even through the haze and aches of his vision, Naruto could see the deep, black, hollowness of the Uchiha's eyes as they gazed up at Itachi in fury.

"Get out of my sight, _little brother_." Itachi said finally, his voice calm and emotionless.

Sasuke got up slowly and disappeared through the dark, mahogany door without another word or a single look back.

Naruto watched as Itachi walked over to him slowly, a subtle, understand smile now placed on his features. "It's okay, Naruto," He said slowly, "You're going to be okay."

And with that, Naruto blacked out.

.

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_**A/N:** I'm alive! It's amazing! But goddamn it! Why isn't this chapter longer? I'll tell you why, it's because it's taking me too long to type (and think up) the rest of it. I have started, so it should be up soon! Think of this as...a filler? I'm cool like that. But, honestly, I did try to put a lot of effort into this! Many late nights of proof reading (I know that I was suppose to get XXnaruto rocksXX to do it, but I decided that I should do this one. Haha sorry! I just wanted to get this up quickly! Props still some spelling mistakes or something though, knowing me...) Man, all this A/N stuff really ruins the vibe of the story, eh? I'll stop. _

_**R&R as usual, I love feedback.**_


	15. Keen Fourteen

A/N: I do not own Naruto or any of his frogs.

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It was still dark outside when Naruto's finally stirred himself awake. His eyes opened slowly but comfortably, much to his relief, and he was able to lift himself up into a sitting position. He looked down. This time he was in a bed. It was a large, soft double bed, with deep red covers and navy blue pillows. It had an obvious gloomy feeling about it and, glancing up, Naruto saw that gloom seemed to be the theme of this room. The walls were a deep, dark blue and the floor was a colour mimicking that of the bedspread. Apart from the dark chestnut wardrobe to his right, pushed against the wall next to the bed, the room was bare. There were no other shelves and no paintings or photos. There was only the bare walls, the clean carpet that covered the floor, and the large window that enveloped the wall to Naruto's left.

A minimal amount of light shone through the glass, radiating from the crescent moon that Naruto could see in the dark sky. On the surface of the glass, Naruto could make out only the faint reflection of the bed as the moons light hit it. A moment of confusion soon followed before the blonde felt a wave of realization crash inside his skull. He sighed deeply and closed his eyes, hoping that the next time he looked in a mirror he will have mentally prepared himself for the experience first.

Naruto glanced to his right, into the shadows of the room, and raised an eyebrow at the empty space.

"How long are you going to stand there, teme?" The Uzumaki asked, grateful that his voice had seized sounding like a broken record and had resumed its normal tone.

After a small silence, Sasuke pushed himself off of his dark corner on the far side of the room and walked into the light. The pale boy seemed to glide as he walked from the middle of the room over to the window. He sat down gracefully on the sill. Sasuke's eyes didn't meet the Naruto's; the boy only gazed out the window. His eyes remained glued on the small forest of trees that covered most of the land behind the house.

In the moonlight, Naruto could see that Sasuke was in his element. The way the moonlight danced on his pale skin and reflected off his dark hair was mesmerizing. Every detail of the boys face and figure was highlighted in the white light, and Naruto was finally able to understand why it was impossible the run away from a vampire. The pleasure he experienced just from gazing at Sasuke was incomprehensible and slightly frightening. He shook off the feeling.

"So, which room am I in now, eh teme?" Sasuke said nothing.

To Naruto, the silence that had swallowed the room was unnervingly awkward. He couldn't suppress his need to break it.

"You really did a number of my neck," the blonde said after another few seconds of silence. Naruto began tilting his head from side to side, stretching it. Originally it had just been a way of starting a conversation but now he winced at the sharp sting that was shooting up the right side of his neck. He brought his tanned hand to the mark and pressed his fingers to it gently. He bit down on his bottom lip a second after; the pain was worse than he thought. "Man, Sasuke," Naruto continued, "What did you do to my neck? Put a corkscrew though it?" The blonde chuckled awkwardly, half out of the lack of recognition his conversation was receiving but mostly because of the ache he was trying to ignore.

Sasuke's head moved a fraction to the side. It was small and subtle, but Naruto saw it. He realised that to get a reaction out of Sasuke, you would have had to say something that was difficult or painful for the pale boy to think about. But he wasn't prepared to do that yet. Not intentionally, at least.

"It was a joke, Sasuke, I didn't mean it." Naruto sighed, trying to sound bored with Sasuke's reaction. In reality he was impressed with himself for saying something that unnerved the always-immovable boy, though he wouldn't tell that to Sasuke. "Seriously, don't worry abou—"

"My room," Sasuke finally said, his voice deep and monotone.

Naruto look at him through questioning eyes.

"Before," Sasuke continued, "You asked what room you're in. This is my room."

Naruto looked around the room again, this time trying to look for any form of detail that might distinguish it as Sasuke's. He found none.

"It's…nice," Naruto managed to say, still glancing around the room. " But you should really get some movers in here because it looks like you could use some help figuring out where to put all your stuff. I mean, look at it! It's so cluttered! You should clean up once in a while!" Naruto made a look of mock disappointment.

Sasuke finally looked at Naruto. His eyes were finally back to their original state of a superior complex. The blonde breathed a sign of relief.

"You know," Sasuke said, "I could possibly hate you if I didn't like how you tasted so much."

Naruto smirked. "And I could possibly hate you if you were human. We're even."

There was a short, comfortable silence where the two just looked at each other, acknowledged one another on a friendly level.

"Your eyes are black again." Naruto said quietly. "I'm glad"

Sasuke blinked slowly. "You picked up on that, did you?"

"Well when you've been as close as I have to your eyes on so many different occasions, you tend to pick up on these things." The blonde stated matter-of-factly.

The raven-haired boy raised an eyebrow. "You're not as oblivious as you look, it seems."

"What's that suppose to mean, teme?" Naruto said irritably, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That you look like an idiot, baka, what else?" Sasuke replied, looking out the window again, apparently already bored with the conversation.

The blonde leant back against his pillows. "I take back what I said before. I can hate you even though you're not human."

"I don't take back what I said." Sasuke smirked. "You taste _way_ to good."

----

The next day, Naruto returned to school. It turned out what Sasuke's brother had said was true; Sasuke had made sure that his absences were unnoticed. But the blonde still couldn't resist the temptation of elbowing the boy in the ribs when he heard that his sick note implied his sickness was 'period pain'.

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A/N: Okay, no freaking out, okay? Please? I'm so terribly terribly sorry for the long wait. How long has it been anyway, a thousand years? Feels like it to me. I knew it was a long time when people stopped sending me messages telling me to hurry up and write! (Thank you to the people who did, by the way, I almost forgot I was writing completely, but you saved me from myself.)

I promise, next chapter is when the storyline ACTUALLY starts. Amazing, right? There hasn't really been one until now, has there? No. I suck. R&R if you still remember who I am! Lol.

(Btw, has anyone else here read Rasengan22's fanfics? 'Cause, like, wow. If you haven't, go read now! I recommend Sometime around Midnight and Talk to me EMENSELY! (Do you want to know how much I love her writing? This much: I haven't even talked to her and I'm still deliving shameless advertising!))

I'll try to write quicker, I promise.


	16. Fifteen

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. However, anyone who's reading this story has the right to punch me for taking so long to update it._

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It was a little after midnight when Naruto heard the opening and closing of the front door. From his position, lazily reclined on the large, leather sofa that sat in front of the television, the blonde made a pathetic attempt to look behind him, towards the archway that lead to the hallway to see who had just walked in. He ended up just leaning his head on the back of the couch, ear pressing into the cool material. He smirked when Sasuke walked into the room, squinting, one hand held in front of his face, protecting his eyes.

"For God's sake, Naruto, why do you have so many lights on?" Sasuke growled, wincing as the light from the television momentarily became brighter.

"Because this house is so damn gloomy," Naruto said, a bored tone lacing his voice. He watched Sasuke walk quickly over to the light switches. "I don't understand why you walk around all night in the dark." Sasuke flicked the switches downwards. The room was instantly enveloped in darkness, with only the ominous light from the television dancing off the objects in the room.

Sasuke, also noticing the loud volume of the TV, glanced suddenly at Naruto's hand, in which he held the remote tightly, and moved towards it. Noticing the movement, Naruto clutched the remote to his chest tightly, as though he were hanging on to something more precious than his own life.

"No." Naruto said sternly, before continuing in a whine. "Oh, come on, Sasuke! You always have the TV at that stupid volume! It might as well be muted! I can't hear a damn thing!" Naruto watched as Sasuke stopped for a moment before disappearing from his position in front of Naruto, only to reappear next to the blonde and tug the remote from his hands effortlessly. Sasuke changed the channel and the volume before handing the remote back to the blonde and walking towards the kitchen, apparently satisfied with what he had just accomplished.

"My house, my rules," he stated mockingly as he practically floated past the blonde. He disappeared through the doorway and into the kitchen.

_'Your house, huh...'_ Naruto thought. He made a short humming noise._ 'So why _am_ I still here_?'

It had been over three weeks since Sasuke had bitten him in the park and still he was told he was not allowed to return to his apartment. Apparently, from what Naruto had gathered, as he was 'changing' it was safer to keep him away from people at night. It was a precautionary measure and Naruto could understand their concern to some extent, but it had been one week since his longer, pointed canines had emerged from his gums –reminding him unwelcomingly of being a child and having his adult teeth push past the baby ones – and _two_ weeks since his eyes had started to occasionally change colour – from its usual deep azure blue into a light red and back again. He had yet to like dark spaces and develop pale skin and dark eyes though, which were apparently must-haves in the vampire community (or maybe Naruto just assumed that, he wasn't sure. He had stopped listening about half way through Itachi telling him the details) but he had been growing and changing steadily with no signs of being a danger to himself or to anyone else.

Through the past three weeks, his school life had remained surprisingly normal after his sudden and mysterious disappearance. His newfound friends, surprisingly concerned about his well being on his return, pried very little into the questions he didn't want to answer and gave him the benefit of the doubt. He was able to subtly slip back into the school routine that, without Sasuke's interference, he would have been able to comfortably settle into weeks before, and found the entire school experience much more enjoyable than he previously thought he would, now that he wasn't constantly on his toes about the whereabouts of Sasuke or vampires. At school, there were no signs of bloodlust, of any sudden urges to jump on someone and suck on their neck, nothing. Everything felt more normal than Naruto had ever experienced before, as ironic as that was.

However, Naruto did find the Uchiha hard to be around at school and attempted to keep a distance between them at all times. Although this didn't stop Sasuke staring at him hungrily from time to time, making him lose his train of thought when he happened to catch him doing it, it did help the blonde remain relatively composed when around his classmates and kept them in the dark about his and Sasuke's relationship.

_…But what was his and Sasuke's relationship, anyway? _

Naruto shook his head, dismissing the thought. He didn't know if he wanted to know the answer to that. He knew that Sasuke liked his blood, that much was true. He had also mentioned something about 'soul mates', but the blonde had heard that line used on many others before as a means of getting their way; who was to say this was any different? The thought depressed him so he locked it away, for now. Sasuke had been well behaved as of late – no sudden ambushes out of the bathroom or anything of the sort – so Naruto wasn't going to push him to talk about something so trivial when things were going well. Nevertheless, the lack of ambushes did leave Naruto wondering if the Uchiha was already bored of his blood…

Naruto slouched down further into the sofa, not bothering to change the channel back, and yelled toward the kitchen. "You know, if you taught me how to do that...thing," He heard a small beep, like that from a microwave, from the kitchen, "you know, that fast moving thing? Then maybe we could have a real fight, instead of you just cheating your way out of versing me." He looked up at Sasuke calmly, who was now behind him with his forearms leaning on the back of the couch, one arm on either side of the blonde head. Naruto had become accustomed to Sasuke's ability of moving so quickly, so he was no longer surprised by Sasuke's random appearances and disappearances.

There was a black ceramic mug in Sasuke right hand and Naruto, even with his inferior nocturnal eyesight, could see the steam rising from it, dancing and curling before evaporating completely. The smell from the mug wasn't entirely unappetising, but it wasn't appealing either. Naruto closed his eyes, inhaling the scent of the warm liquid and sighed, out of habit rather than out of a need to exhale.

"Whose blood is that?" Naruto asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

Sasuke shrugged and took a small sip from the mug before holding it in front of the blonde, leaning across Naruto's shoulders.

"Does it matter?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "I suppose not," he lied.

"Would you like some?" Sasuke asked seriously, the ends of his hair grazing Naruto's neck softly.

Naruto opened his eyes, glanced to the right of him at Sasuke and then down to the mug, examining its contents. Even without being able to see it properly, he had still been able to identify it by the smell and texture of the liquid. He grimaced slightly, though less than usual, and shook his head slowly.

"Still can't stomach the stuff," he said, half smiling. Sasuke shrugged and brought the mug back to his lips. Naruto watched the light from the television move on Sasuke's Adam's apple as he tilted his head back to take a large gulp.

That was the only undoubtedly strange thing with Naruto's transformation; he had no _bloodlust_. Over the three weeks of his living at Sasuke's there had been several occasions where he had tried to indulge in blood as Sasuke did, when Sasuke did, but it was futile.

The first of such occasions happened only a couple of days after Naruto's returning to school. He had mentioned that he was thirsty, and they were certain of what would satisfy that thrust. So, after showing Naruto the large supply of blood packs, bottles, and even cans – where they managed to get cans Naruto didn't know and didn't ask – filled with the liquid, they gave one of the packs, being the smallest of the options, to Naruto. The blonde remembered feeling revolted by the sight of that amount of blood and couldn't help the nagging feeling that this crimson liquid was suppose to be inside someone's body, keeping them alive. For a moment, he couldn't help feeling a sudden sense that everything around him was held in an unbelievably deafening silence. He pushed his hand to his chest and realised, as if for the first time, that he felt nothing. His heartbeat had gone, his circulation had stopped and, it wasn't until that moment that he fully realised his inability to _really_ breathe.

Naruto had brought the pack to his lips hesitantly. Both Sasuke and Itachi's eyes had watched him in anticipation, their pupils dilated and their iris's stained a dark crimson. Naruto couldn't shake the feeling the situation was somehow a thrill for the Uchiha's. Had they the ability to breath, Naruto felt they would have been holding in an exhale for a painfully long time as they waited.

Naruto tipped the open blood pack upwards.

The instant the blood touched Naruto's tongue he gagged, violently and uncontrollably. He dropped the blood pack, the liquid oozing out as it hit the floor, and ran for the sink in the kitchen, hands covering his mouth. He leant his shoulders over the sink, hunching them, and slumped his head. He threw up. Naruto kept his eyes closed to avoid seeing the usually perfect silver sink covered in the contents of his stomach as he continued to cough roughly with his head in the sink.

_Revolting_. The blonde had never tasted anything so foul, and he had drunk milk that was well past its use by date. Naruto had tasted blood when he was human – a scratch here and there that he would suck on in the hopes of the saliva forcing it to heal faster – and he remembered it tasting like metal, leaving a metallic after taste in his mouth that lasted only a few minutes.

This was nothing like that.

This was the essence of putridity, of nausea, of disgust. It had a texture that stuck to the roof of Naruto's mouth. It clung there and curled around his tonsils, forcing him to choke as his mouth attempted to force the intruder out. There was nothing more repulsive then this taste, this texture, this _liquid_.

After a few moments, Naruto finally stopped coughing. He slumped against the kitchen counter, panting out of habit from having been coughing for such a long period of time. His back still facing the Uchiha's, neither of which had said anything during the blonde's ordeal, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and let out a single cough for good measure.

He felt a hand on the small of his back and it was only then that he remembered that breathing was a luxury, no longer a necessity, and stopped panting. He glanced over his shoulder and met Sasuke's gaze. The boys' dark eyebrows were furrowed in what was either concern or confusion. Maybe it was both, Naruto didn't know. The blonde looked back down at the sink, grimacing as he looked at the mess he had made, and turned on the tap swiftly. He cupped his hands under the water and sipped the water from his hands. He gargled, spat and turned off the tap quickly before turning around slowly to face Sasuke and Itachi. He looked at them both for a moment, studying their facial features for signs of a reaction. Itachi's features were smooth and without worry. His eyes were more narrow than usual but his eyes remained free of any negative emotion. Sasuke, however, was unable to mask his look of concern as his eyes shifted back and forth between Naruto's blue ones. The sides of his mouth were tugged down slightly.

Bringing his hand up to scratch the back of his head, Naruto shifted his eyes to the floor in embarrassment. He noticed the discarded blood pack still lying on the floor and had to look up again as a feeling of nausea crept into his stomach from simply looking at it.

He grinned half-heartedly. "Um…" he said, "That was gross."

Sasuke let out a dry laugh from beside him. Naruto glanced at him.

"What?" Naruto asked, quirking an eyebrow.

Sasuke gazed at him, his face once again void of almost all emotion. "Understatement."

Any attempts made after that were done with strictly medicine sized doses, in an attempt to avoid any more mess than necessary, and Naruto took them as though they were a shot of alcohol, forcing himself to do something that was suppose to be 'instinctual' and turning it into a chore. He didn't have to do it often, only when one of the Uchiha's noticed a slight change in his demeanour – such as slightly slitted pupils, red tinted iris's, more obvious or protruding canines, or simply just a less Naruto-esque personality. Nothing drastic had taken place to lead them to believe Naruto was in any urgent need to drink blood, and it seemed that, although the Uchiha's themselves needed blood in order to remain mobile and docile, Naruto was perfectly content eating and drinking as he did when he was human in order to get his sustenance.

That was until a boy named Gaara joined their class.

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_A/N: Well...where should I start?_

_It's been over a year (I think?) since I last updated this story and for that I am story. That's just life, i don't really have an excuse for it. I also just lost my...edge for this story because I couldn't figure out where it was going, not to mention that whenever I read over it I see so many mistakes that I just want to delet it. But then I realised that that was part of what made this story mine from the beginning, and I don't think I want to change it after all. I mean, if so many people R&R'd it as I was writing it before then it mustn't be ALL bad, right? SO, even though I started re-writing this story completely...I think I'm going to just finish this one instead. :) I know a few people have completely forgotten about this story but...well, I guess it's here to stay. :) I just hope I haven't pissed too many people off. I suppose a few people should probably thank **Broken Sexed Up Bloody Kitten** for getting me off my butt and actually continuing this. Thank you for pestering me, I realise how good it was now._

_I'm going to give it my all this time around, I promise. Please help me continue and complete According to Season! :)_

_P.s: Don't worry, this is still sasunaru. Even though I'm bringing Gaara into the mix doesn't mean I'm going to do anything with them. Or will I? I guess we'll see. ;)  
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